A Battle of Embers
by Sammie Writes
Summary: Fate has a strange way of acting. For Prince Chrom, it couldn't get any stranger than finding a blood-soaked Plegian woman. With little memory, the woman still proves to be quite the tactical genius and a valued asset as another war with Plegia looms over the horizon. A fated meeting could lead to disastrous consequences or a new hope.
1. Prologue

**Full Summary:** _Fate has a strange way of acting. For Prince Chrom, it couldn't get any stranger than finding a blood-soaked Plegian woman almost immediately after driving Plegian brigands out of a nearby village. With little memory beyond her name, the woman still proves to be quite the tactical genius and a valued asset as another war with Plegia looms over the horizon. But those in the shadows are set on making fate play it's course and reviving their dark god. A fated meeting, innocent enough, could lead to disastrous consequences or a new hope._

* * *

 **Authors Note:** Now I have written this story before, but a series of events have lead me to rewrite this. A bittersweet moment, but I'm excited.

 **A Battle of Embers  
Prologue**

" _The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering."_  
\- The Fourth Doctor, Doctor Who, 'The Face of Evil'

* * *

Aching limbs. Blistered fingers. Screaming head. Gasping chest.

Her strength was quickly diminishing. Everything it took just to get her, the battles, discussions, the planning. She was worn out physically and mentally. As much as she would have liked to think she had grown out of that sort of thing, she just wanted to go home and sink into her mattress.

On her hands and knees, she knew she needed to get on her feet. That she was making herself a sitting duck like this. But her body was weighing her down, yearning for rest, she could barely take it.

A sudden battle cry caught her attention; she looked up her blood turning cold. A man, clad in blues and white, with blue hair to match, held his magnificent sword at the ready as he went in for the attack against the talk, sickly looking man. Struggling to her feet, she opened the tome cradled in her left hand.

The man of blue sparred off against the gangly man, they mirrored each other for several moments. The gangly man's magic seemingly caught the blue man's sword as he tried to get a hit in.

She had a mind to scold him for pushing himself. Despite the speed of his movements, all she could see is the jagged scar that traveled from his shoulder to his elbow on his right arm. The wound never fully healed, even years after the fact. How often had it froze up on him in the middle of a battle? She wasn't sure if they could get through his battle if it happened again.

But he made battle look so easy, so what did she truly know? She knew he felt safe, so safe, in the company of the blue-haired man. She trusted him, trusted him with her life. She knew him so well. And there was a time when he could say the same about her. But now? Now she wasn't so sure.

She barely knew herself anymore; within the last half-hour, if that, her whole world has been shaken. If they made it through this… then what? Would they be able to look at her the same way anymore? Would she have to die? Was that even a question? Of course, she would, it was for the best. She had to die so this gangly man's desires could never come to fruition. She had to die.

The two men continue to clash, the man in blue would go for a strike, then the gangly man would strike back with his dark magic. The process repeated itself as orange-yellow sparks began to flicker around her free hand as the page began to burn away. The gangly man leaped up, levitating himself just below the banisters, but still high enough to cause damage if he fell. His hands held up in front of him, ready to throw the dark magic he gathered at the man in blue. He threw the large ball downward, towards the man of blue, who successfully managed to dodge just as the tall man threw down the spell.

The force of the blast threw her off her feet. She cradled her tome close to her chest, careful not to lose it as she tossed her free hand at the gangly man. Yellow electricity sailed through the air, but the man had already vanished before the Thoron spell could even hit him.

Repositioning herself, she used her free hand to help her slide to a stop. She looked back up at the blue haired man, just in time to see blue electricity to crash into him. She shouted his name, cold dread began to swell up inside her. _'He's fine,'_ she told herself, _'He's fine. He's-fine-he's-fine-he's-fine-he's-fine…'_

The dust began to settle enough for her to see the blue haired man pull himself to his knees. He is bruised, with thin cuts along his exposed skin. But thankfully, he looked relatively unharmed. He was using his sword, magnificent and brilliant, as a support to help him onto his knees.

She bit her lower lip as soon as she saw it, the tremor in his arm; it was beginning to freeze on him. He shouldn't be fighting this battle. She should have fought with him to sit this out! Why did she let him talk her into letting him fight?!

Gods, she hated herself. So. Much.

A buzz of electricity caught her attention; the gangly man in the dark robes was preparing another spell. Not as large, but still powerful. Cackling, the man throws the spell in the direction of the blue-haired man. "No!" she shouted, readying another Thoron spell.

The two spells of differing magic collided with each other. The room momentarily filled with a bight light. The light began to die down, allowing her and the gangly man to exchange glares. Everything was his fault. Everything! _EVERYTHING!_

The situation they were currently in. The deaths… the deaths… The monster running loose. The monster he wanted to make of her. It was his fault. His-fault-his-fault-his-fault-his-fault- _his-fault-his-fault-his-fault-her-fault-her-fault-her-fault-_ _ **her-fault**_ -

A gentle squeeze at her shoulder snapped her out of her thoughts. She half-turned to find the blue-haired man beside her, his sword still at his side, and his other hand on her shoulder. "You're one of us," the blue-haired man said assuringly. His voice was still as warm and comforting as she had always known it to be. "No 'destiny' can change that."

She uttered his name, holding her tome close to her. A warmth fell over her, replacing the cold dread. A sense of home that always followed him, and by extension, followed her so long as they were near. How often had been able to reassure her in what seemed like a hopeless case? They always came out on top, this would be no different. "Yeah…"

"Why do you insist on rejecting the inevitable?!" the gangly man demanded. "You cannot erase what has been written! You are meant to stand here! At my side!"

No… No. He's wrong. He's wrong-he's-wrong- _he's-wrong-he's-wrong-_ _ **he's-wrong!**_

The blue haired man took off first, with her following at his heels. His swords shone brilliantly in what little light there is left. The blue haired man ad the gangly man repeat their previous spat. No matter how the man of blue would try the go in for a strike the gangly man would catch it with his magic.

He held a hand out blocking an oncoming sword attack from her, just as she had hoped. She had taken out her blade and gone in for the attack. Pulling her tome out, she opened it and allowed it to fall onto the floor. Orange-red sparks danced around her fingers as she drove the Thoron spell into the gangly man's side just as the blue-haired man cuts into his opposite side. The gangly man pushed himself back by a couple of yards, safely away from the pair. Black and purple flames begin to dance around his person. He fell on to his knees, sitting still for just a split second before dropped flat onto the floor his and reaching out futilely.

Relieved, the blue-haired man looked back at her and smiled. Weakly, she could feel her own lips pull back into a smile. Everything… Everything was going to be all right now. Maybe she didn't need to die with the gangly man dead. Maybe…

She took a step forward with every intention of grabbing onto the blue-haired man's hand. "This isn't over…" the raspy, ragged voice of a man thought dead said. The gangly man suddenly prompt himself up with one hand and extended his opposite hand towards the pair. _"DAMN YOU BOTH!"_

With her body acting before her mind could catch up, she placed her hand firmly on the blue-haired man's chest. Putting as much strength in as she could, she shoved him out of the path of the gangly man's spell. Under different circumstances, she would have thought it was an impressive feat as the man of blue easily outclassed her. But right now, she was far more concerned about keeping him alive. Between the two she was the expendable one. She was the expendable one.

She was just able to catch the utter fear and confusion on the blue man's face. A moment of realization. The idiot actually feared for _her_.

Her vision went white as the spell threw her off her feet. She was momentarily weightless, unaware of her surroundings. Her chest burned upon contact with the gangly man's spell. An uncomfortable tingle spread from her chest to her arms, to the tips of her fingers. A new form of pain brought her back to reality as she hit the floor. In contrast to the burning, the back of her head and shoulders started to throb.

The blue haired man shouted her, prompting her to slowly open her eyes. Her mind still fuzzy; she needed to blink a couple of times before her vision cleared. The blue haired man sprinted to her as soon as she hit the floor. Finally, at her side, he dropped to his knees, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he helped her sit up.

"You all right?" he asked instantly. Unable to find her voice, she nodded, relieved, the man looked back at the gangly man on the floor. He must have collapsed after casting that spell as his body began to disintegrate into a black and purple haze. "That's the end of him… thanks to you, we carry the day."

She brought a hand to her forehead, allowing the man in blue to hold her. She was still hurting, she was exhausted, and she wasn't sure what she was going to do with the gangly man dead. Were her thoughts just her reacting to the revelations at the moment? Did she simply overreact?

Without warning, her breath caught in her throat, her head hurt from it's deepest crevices. The pain, so intense, she hardly noticed the blue-haired man guiding her onto her feet. Though she wanted to sit back down. She wanted to scream at him to help her back down, but she couldn't find her voice. "We can rest easy now," the man said his voice so distance and muffle to her ears, "at long last."

Another spasm of pain pulsed through her head. She could feel the man's hand leave her shoulders, she grabbed it, instantly, wanting the support. Her chest started to heave, she wasn't actually sure if breathing was an actual struggle or not.

"What's wrong?" the man asked, finally noticing the pain on her face. She still couldn't find her voice, instead opting to squeeze his hand and hope he understood what she was trying to say. "Hang on! Hang-"

 _Blank._

 _Blank._

 _Blank._

She felt like she could faint with the sudden absence of pain. Like a candle blown out the pain was just… gone. She couldn't say how, or why. She was just glad it was gone. The pure relief of it all was enough to make her sing.

To her confusion, the man sauntered from her on unsteady legs. Her heart stopped at the sight of the large orange-yellow electric volt penetrated at his side. His hand held the volt, he wasn't trying to remove it, though it likely wouldn't have done him any good; blood was seeping out around the wound.

Her chest started heaving again, watching helplessly as blood started to drip at the man's feet. No… nononononono! Not him. Not him. _Not him!_

How? How?! It was just to two of them! No one else could have… No one else…

Oh, gods, please no…

Cold and utterly terrified, she looked down at her right hand. Small traces of electricity sparked between her fingers. Tears welling in her eyes she looked back at the man, shaking her head "No…" she choked out, the tears spilling down her cheeks. "No… No… _No!_ "

Gods please, not him… not him… not by her hand…

The man took a step towards her, his free hand gently caressed her cheek, wiping the tears.

' _Don't… don't… don't… don't…'_

"This is not your-your fault…" the man rasped. Blood began to drip out of the corners of his mouth. "Promise me… you'll escape from this place… Please… go…"

The light died from his eyes as they rolled into the back of his head. The man dropped to his knees before he collapsed onto the floor. Blood began to pool out around him on the floor.

Her hands clasped over her mouth as she scampered back a step.

She stared at the man, motionless on the ground as blood began to stain the white of his clothes. She let out a muffled sob into her hands. She dropped to her knees, still sobbing.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. It wasn't supposed to be this way. It wasn't supposed to be this way!

Why…?

Why was she alive?! Why was she alive, why was she alive, why was she alive, _why-was-she-alive-why-was-she-alive-_ _ **why-was-she-alive?!**_

Why was this world still alive?

A miserable land perfect for generations of miserable existences. How many wars did this world experience and they never did learn their lesson? And how many ended up dead as a result? The lands ravaged, people suffering and dying. They never learned…

She was stupid for holding onto hope.

He was stupid for holding onto hope.

This world… was better off dead…

It was the rasped cackling that got her attention; a voice belonging to one she was sure was dead. Slowly, surely, her shoulder began to shake, a smile forming behind her hands. Lowering her hands, she allowed a low chuckle to escape her lips.

They were better off dead…

They were better off dead!

 _ **THEY WERE BETTER OFF DEAD!**_

Euphoria started to bubble up within her the more and more she accepted the truth. Her head tilt back, laughing alongside the disemboweled voice. Liberated from her previous concerns she remained somewhat oblivious to the new pain on her temples as a pair of jagged horns began to grow.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One  
The Verge of History**

Prince Chrom felt like a stranger as the caravan built a makeshift funeral pyre out of their destroyed wagon. He knew he was out of place as the caravan's oldest member lead the Plegian's of the group in prayer as the body, wrapped in a makeshift shroud, was laid atop to the pyre and set ablaze. He would have liked to join in on their prayer out of respect, and because it was something Emmeryn would have done, but they spoke in Plegian.

Frederick had asked him whether or not they should trust this caravan like this with recent goings-on. But if it wasn't for the caravan the village of Elrond may be in worse condition now.

The events of last night were… strange, to say the least. The brigands who did make it into Elrond simply invaded homes, used threats of violence to get the homeowners to cooperate, then move onto the next home. Nothing was stolen, and only one dead.

His sister, Lissa, cried for the deceased, though they knew next to nothing about her. Even the caravan knew little about her. She was just traveling with them for a few days, working at their camp in exchange for food and shelter until they came to the next town. But her body was found so close to where Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick were staying for the night. If they had acted sooner maybe they could have saved her. It was a thought that nagged at Chrom since Rahul found her.

Rahul, the oldest member of the caravan, dressed in a worn robe of a sage, more or less spoke for the caravan. Some members eyed Chrom and Lissa like they half-expected him to just turn his blade on them. In turn, Frederick looked like he would not hesitate to gut the first person to raise a hand at them. The children amongst the caravan, in particular, cowered behind their mother's skirts.

The children would have been born well after the fact, but no doubt they heard the stories of Calhoun's genocidal campaign. Added to Ylisse's current issues with Plegia Chrom imagined most Plegian children would be terrified of him. "I think we should go now," Chrom kept his voice in a hushed tone. "Emm will worry if we keep her waiting."

' _I know when we're not wanted,'_ was what he wanted to say. Public speaking may not have been his strongest suit, but he knew when he needed to keep some thoughts to himself. "Quite right, Milord," Frederick agreed.

Sniffling, Lissa used her sleeve to dry her eyes. She nodded silently. Before they could head back to Elrond, Chrom opened one of the saddlebags on Frederick's mare and pulled out a small purse. "Please, accept this," Chrom offered the purse to Rahul. "Thirty-seven suns should buy you a new wagon."

"Thank you for your kindnesses, my lord." Rahul took the purse into his withered hands. "And please, do not worry yourself about her passing. She likely died happy with the present outcome."

Chrom forced a smile, though Rahul's words did not sit with him. Though the brigands last night were did not kill anyone, someone still died anyway. That bothered him so much he struggled to find the words.

He could still smell smoke as they traveled straight through Elrond, just smoke, and wood. If there was any flesh, Chrom didn't notice, for better or worse. Despite the somber start, it was a calm day. The warmth of spring melted away the remains of winter. It could have been a nice walk with the warm wind and fresh scent of glass.

"Well, I'm sorry!" Lissa ranted, cutting across Chrom's thoughts. "I'm so, _so_ sorry if I don't understand why we even bothered to bring a horse along if we don't even ride her!"

Frederick brought up the rear of their small group, leading his mare, Cecil, by her reins. He usually rode into battle atop Cecil, but for missions like this, she essentially served as their pack mule. Of course, if anyone actually called Cecil a mule when Frederick was in earshot, there would be hell to pay.

"A little walking builds character, milady," Frederick responded lightheartedly.

Lissa stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and blew a raspberry. Hard to believe she turned sixteen just a few short weeks ago. She had the tendencies of a nine-year-old at times. "If I wanted to build character, I would have stayed in Ylisstol and trained with Sully and Kellam," she murmured.

"That's actually not such a bad idea," Chrom pointed out with a raised brow.

"You knew it would be like this when you became a Shepherd, milady," said Frederick.

"I know," Lissa heaved a sigh, "I also knew it would give you one more excuse to worry about every little thing, Sir Allow-Me-to-Clear-Every-Tiny-Little-Pebble-and-Stick-So-You-Don't-Trip."

"Milady!" gasped Frederick.

A brief snort escaped Chrom's lips, he tried to hide his grin by covering his mouth with the back of his hand.

Lowering his hand, Chrom allowed his eyes to wander off to the field just off the dirt path. The wind billowed through the grass, making the field look like waves were crashing into one another. His gaze followed the 'waves,' until Chrom spotted something truly unexpected; a human figure, lied motionless on the ground.

Gasping sharply, Chrom tore off the path, straight for the figure, without really thinking. He heard Lissa call his name, then perhaps gasp herself. As fast as she could Lissa got out a bottle of vulnerary and a water skin out of Cecil's satchel and raced after her brother. Frederick called for them both, but his cries full upon deaf ears.

As soon as Chrom was at the figures side he dropped to one knee to lower himself face beside theirs. A steady stream of warm breath met his skin; relieved, Chrom leaned back as Lissa dropped to her knees. She dropped the waterskin and vulnerary at her side and started to inspect the person. "Still alive," Chrom stood back up.

Gingerly, Lissa pulled back the flap of their coat and nearly leaped back at the sheer amount of blood on their person. "Not for a lack of trying!"

She was a young woman, about eighteen or nineteen, maybe twenty if they were being generous. Her skin was a handsome shade of honey brown, white hair laid around her head, over her shoulder. She lied on her side with her hands close to her face; dried blood coated her fingers. Bloodstains took up the right side of her person, on her top, on her kilt, spots on her neck and in her hair. There was even a trail of dried blood on her upper lip starting from her nose. Were it not for the blood, she could have simply been sleeping.

"Plegian robes," Frederick said, approaching the siblings. "Be on guards, this could easily be a trap set by last night stragglers."

Once Chrom was able to look past the blood on her person, he could see the style of her clothing. A loose tunic and slacks; a style that would have come in handy in the deserts of Plegia. She would have fit right in with the caravan. But it was her coat that was particularly alarming. Thick and black with yellow-gold accents lining the sleeves and edges. But it was the three purple eyes that ran down the center of the sleeves that identified her as one of the Grimleal.

"Honestly!" Lissa huffed. Standing up she placed her hands on her waist, her crinoline making it default for her to place them on her hips. "Do you really think anyone would be this obvious?"

"Milady," Frederick said in a staged whisper, "you see that coat-"

"Yes, I see it. But that's all it is. It's not hurting anyone."

"And the mark on her hand? Does that get a pass from you?"

Chrom's brow arched in confusion before he looked back down at the woman. Had Frederick not said anything, Chrom would like likely missed it all together. Her hands were so caked with blood it was easy to miss. But now that Chrom had seen it, he couldn't tear his eyes from it.

There it was, on the back of her right hand. It was a light purple mark, strangely ethereal. It was not a sigil one would normally see in Ylisse. How many knew what it's significance was, Chrom did not know. But he did now what it was; the Mark of Grima. The sigil of the Grimleal and mark of the Fell Dragon.

Chrom knew the mark was usually worn on the clothes of the Grimleal's clergy. He also knew it was not unheard of for devout members to follow this practice. But he had never heard of anyone baring the mark on their skin. A part of a ritual amongst the devout? If so it was not one Chrom had ever heard of.

"What's your point?" Lissa asked, standing firm with her resolve.

"Milady," Frederick stressed, "it's blindingly obvious that she is one of the Grimleal."

"And? We cannot hold it against someone for the basic right to choose their religion. If we did, we'd be no better than Father."

Frederick's brow twitched in a rare moment of wavering. Chrom wasn't sure if it was simply because Lissa was speaking ill of the dead, or because she was speaking ill of their late Exalt. "Even when they come from the country that's been terrorizing our borders?" Frederick challenged. "Who's to say she hasn't already? Look at her, milady, I see no injury."

"Really?" Chrom asked without really thinking. But he quickly came to see that Frederick may have been right. If only because Lissa had done nothing for her after inspecting her person. So it was likely it was only the blood around her nose that was hers.

"For all we know she could have been trying to save someone," argued Lissa. "Besides, at this point, our hypothetical ambushers could have attacked us, yet they haven't." She proceeded to cup both hands over her mouth and shouted, "OKAY, WE TOOK THE BAIT! IF YOU'RE GOING TO ATTACK US BETTER DO IT NOW! _C'MON, DON'T KEEP US WAITI-_ "

Chrom pinched the bridge of his nose while Frederick clapped a hand over Lissa's mouth in an attempt to silence her. She squirmed away from him, and darted to Chrom's side, as though he had any more power to stop Frederick. At this rate, it was going to be the two of them to get them into trouble more than this woman.

"Hold on now." Chrom raised a hand to silence the two; he held his gaze upon Lissa. "Now, I'm just as willing to hear this woman out, but I do agree that we shouldn't just throw caution to the wind." He turned his gaze to Frederick. "And what if Lissa's right, Frederick? For all we know, someone was in trouble, and this woman was trying to find help for them. Didn't we just meet a group who tried to do the same thing?"

"You ignore the fact that no one in the caravan was covered in blood," Frederick pointed out.

"Chrom…" Lissa held her gaze on the woman, then looked back up at her brother. "We have to do _something_."

"What do you propose we do?"

"Uh… I don't know…"

"Mm…"

The siblings turned their attention back to the woman; slowly, she opened her eyes to reveal a set of red irises. She blinked a couple of times, sat up, the shook her head to remove any dreariness. "I see you're awake now," said Chrom.

"Hey there," Lissa greeted the woman with a kind, warm smile.

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know," Chrom said, hoping to put the woman at ease with a joke. He extended his hand to her. "Give me your hand."

Hesitantly, the woman slid her right hand, the very hand with the mark, into Chrom's. Effortlessly, he pulled the woman to her feet. She swayed slightly, still somewhat dazed. "Easy," Chrom said gently. He placed his free hand on her shoulder to help her steady. "You all right?"

Chrom smiled slightly, recognizing that the woman was staring at him right in the face. She blinked once as though realization was dawning on her. Lissa let out a gasp and bent down for the waterskin. She removed the cork and held it out to the woman. "Here."

Red eyes wide and almost childlike, the woman took the waterskin into both hands and brought the rim to her mouth. Water spilled out over the rim, down the sides of her mouth, under her chin down her neck, partially cleaning off the blood. She lowered the waterskin, cradling it in the palm of one hand while the other held the neck. "Better?" asked Chrom.

"Yes…" said the woman. Her voice was pleasant, soft, smooth, and clear. "Thank you, Chrom…"

"So you know me then."

The woman's brow furrowed while she thought it over. Her lips pursed together as her eyes narrowed. As the seconds ticked by she brought a fists to her mouth, her brow deepening. "N… no…" she shook her head. "I'm sorry… I don't know why I linked that name to you… It just… Came to me…?"

"I see…" Chrom said thoughtfully. He supposed it wasn't impossible, but it did raise suspicion. Even he could name Valm's current emperor. "Might I ask for your name, then?"

"Y-Yes, of course!" The woman lowered her bloodied hand and hid both with her long sleeves. "I-I'm… uh… I'm…"

She fell silent once again, her eyes widened, her brow crinkled again. The woman let out a breath of air before she suddenly hugged herself; her jaw fell open slightly. She was desperately trying to find something, anything. But there simply wasn't anything for her to grasp. "You don't know your name?" Chrom asked, furrowing his own brow.

The woman released a slight squeak, she tried to hide in her high collar. _'What's your name,'_ was the one question anyone should have been able to answer. But for whatever reason, she simply couldn't. The woman looked so lost and helpless at that moment, Chrom's sympathies went out to her. "But it's your own name!" Lissa's eyes widened as she spoke. "Everyone has one, right?"

There was a twitch in the woman's cheeks, her eyes looked from left to right, right to left, never simply just stopping on something. Was she about to start crying? "Wh-Where am I exactly?" she asked. "Nothing feels familiar."

"Oh! It's probably amnesia!" Lissa said in a staged whisper. "Maybe she hit her head."

"Or, it's a load of pegasus crap," Frederick announced. He held a hard glare at the woman. "You mean to tell me this woman remembers milord's name, but not her own?"

"I know how this looks…" The woman swayed from left to right while she hugged herself with one arm. "But I promise, I'm not lying."

"Forgive me, ma'am, if I find your words ring hollow. Your hole situation, and the way you present yourself, reeks of suspicion."

Lissa gasped, "Frederick!"

Without hesitation, Frederick turned his gaze towards Lissa's direction. "Milady, please take a step back and think about all of this." He gestured to the woman. "We find an unknown, blood-stained woman in Plegian garb, with the Grimleal's emblem on her hand. She claims to know milord's name, but not her own? I'm afraid we cannot simply ignore this."

"And if it's true Frederick?" Chrom countered. "We cannot leave her alone and confused. What kind of Shepherds would we be otherwise?"

Frederick glanced back at the woman for a moment. She was biting the inside of her cheek, her brow stuck in it's furrowed state. If this woman was an actress she played the part of the fool spectacularly well. "She could be from the caravan?" suggested Lissa.

"Now that, I highly doubt," said Chrom. "They didn't mention any other missing member."

"E-Excuse me…"

Both Chrom and Lissa turned their attention back at the woman. She must have started to realize how she looked as she kept her hands hidden and hugged her coat close to her in an attempt to hide the blood. "We'll sort this out when we get to Southtown," Chrom decided. "It's not that far from here."

The woman's eyes snapped open in a moment of panic. "Wait!" She recoiled as soon as she realized how loud she was. "Don't I have a say in all this?"

"Peace, friend," Chrom said with a brief chuckle, "I promise we'll hear all you have to say back in town."

* * *

To say she was frightened was an understatement. To say she was confused was equally an understatement. What would she do if she could not remember herself? It would have been downright foolish to expect these stranger to care for her. And that was assuming they did not have anything horrid in mind for her.

She tried to calm herself by saying that the young man with the shaggy blue hair and the blonde girl had done nothing but speak to her kindly. Likewise, she tried desperately to push the notion that it could be an act out of her thoughts. If she gave the idea any attention she may end up frozen with fright.

Observing the trio for a mere five seconds and she could tell that the three must have come from some noble house. The man she identified as Chrom whore a truly odd one-piece suit with a white, somewhat tattered, cape and a shining pauldron. She wasn't sure what was the strangest thing about his garb, the fact that it was a one-piece or the fact that it didn't have a right sleeve despite having a left. There was a mark on his exposed right shoulder. A birthmark… a tattoo? Even it's shape was odd, if she had to describe it, the words she would choose was a teardrop inside of a trident. Not accurate in the very least, but it was all she had.

The blonde had on a warm yellow clerical's dress, complete with the crinoline. While her hair was done up in a pair of pigtails that curled at the ends. She had on a white lacy headdress, kept down by a vine-like diadem that circled around the pinch of her pigtails.

The knight had on a bulky blue and silver armor, but he held himself as though he could run miles in that thing without breaking a sweat. His brown hair was styled at neatly as he could get it with its slight curl at the end, and one lock that wouldn't stay flat. His horse likewise wore armor, matching her rider in colors.

In one form or another, they came from money. She couldn't, and shouldn't, count on them to take care of her. At best, maybe she could at least hope they would point her in the right direction. At worse, the group's kindnesses really was an act and they had some horrid planned for her. The thought nagged at her no matter how many times she tried to force it out of her head.

Oh, gods what was to become of her?

Stopping in her tracks, the woman took a few breaths in. "What will you do with me?" she asked, wide eyes staring at the ground. "A-Am I do be your prisoner?"

The chuckle from Chrom did nothing to ease her anxieties and caused a blush on her cheeks. "You'll be free to go once we establish that you're no enemy of Ylisse," he explained.

"Ylisse?" she repeated. "Is that where we are?"

"Yes. This land is known as the Halidom of Ylisse. Our ruler is the Exalt Emmeryn." Chrom's brow arched curiously. "Is none of this familiar?"

The woman shook her head, a lock of hair falling over one shoulder as a result. She bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes no longer so wide, but she was staring intently at the ground. Chrom decided that the woman's whole experience had to be overwhelming. He could not begin to imagine what was going through the woman's head at that very moment. For all any of them she knew, she was doing all she could to avoid breaking down right then and there.

"I suppose proper introductions are in order," said Chrom. "My name is Chrom - but then, you already knew that. The delicate one here is my little sister, Lissa."

"I am not delicate!" Without warning, Lissa proceeded to pound her brother on the arm with her fist. Chrom flinched slightly before Lissa shoved him aside. "Ignore my brother, please. He can be a bit thick at times, you'll discover that pretty quick. The perpetually paranoid one is Frederick the Wary."

"A title I shall wear with pride," Frederick said with a clenched jaw. This sort of teasing was clearly nothing new to him. "Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution." He turned to face the woman with a calmer expression, at least in compared to the judgmental glares he gave her earlier. "I have every wish to trust you, stranger, but my station mandates otherwise."

The woman nodded rapidly. "I understand, sir," she said quickly, "I know how my situation looks." She paused, her brow furrowed together; she blinked. "Anali…"

"Huh?" questioned Chrom.

"My name…" the woman said slowly. A smile formed on her face, threatening to split her face any moment. " _My name_ … It's Anali!" Breathily she shifted a lock of hair behind her ear. "So strange… it just came to me…"

"Anali…" Chrom repeated, gripping his chin in thought. There was something pleasant about it, almost mystical. That said, it certainly was a name commonplace in Ylisse. "Sounds foreign."

"Oh!" gasped Lissa. "Maybe you're from Valm!"

Chrom couldn't help but raise a brow at his sister. For the life of him, he couldn't tell if Lissa legitimately believed it or not.

"Milord!' Frederick exclaimed abruptly.

In unison, Chrom, Lissa, and Anali turned in the direction of Southtown. A tall pillar of black smoke billowed out from the direction of the town. The scent of burnt wood was carried by the wind with the cries of the village. "Damn it!" Chrom cursed. "Brigands, no doubt. Frederick, Lissa, quick!"

"What about her?" Frederick asked gesturing to Anali.

"Unless she's on fire, she can wait!"

"Aptly put, milord."

Lissa hurried to Frederick's mare and pulled out her staff from the saddle bag. Frederick mounted the horse before he pulled the blonde girl up behind him. The mare tore off into a gallop with Chrom already ahead of them.

"B-But…" Anali said wearily. She held her hand out in a futile attempt to stop them, they were already gone.

* * *

The town was in shambles; homes and shops were either on fire or torn to bits. Civilians tried to protect themselves by blocking their doors. Some were successful, others were not. The brigands pillaged anyone they could; a few of Southtown's men and women had already taken up arms in retaliation with varying degrees of success.

A woman knelt on the ground, her pitchfork forgotten as soon as her husband hit the ground. She held her close as he bleeds out from the wound on his shoulder and abdomen. The fool tried to fight back against one of the bandits, but he was quick and brutally struck her husband down.

She cradled him close to her, unsure if she should be praising him for his bravery or condemning him for sheer stupidity. She yelled out when someone grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her dying husband out of her arms. The woman tried to struggle out of the man's grip but he had her easily outclassed.

Eventually, the man held her down in one arm, his other hand held her head, daring her to try and move less she wanted a swift end. Without warning, blood splattered across the woman's face. She stood, stunned, afraid to look at her would-be captor. The bandit's grip on her lessened, he fell over, almost taking her with him under his weight. She managed to move out of the body's path. She took a chance and half-turned to find Chrom just as he slid the Falchion into its sheath. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes!" The woman tried to wipe blood and tears from her eyes. "Thank you, milord."

Lissa knelt down beside the woman's husband, she muttered something under her breath as she held her heal staff over him. She looked back up at the man's wife. "Your husband will be fine," she said. "Can you please spread the word that I'm caring for the wounded. And that I could use volunteer help."

The woman nodded and went into the nearest shop, one of few that had yet to be plundered. "I've got things taken care of here, Chrom," Lissa looked up at her brother. "Be careful."

He gave her a brief nod. "You too."

Chrom did what he could to get civilians out of their burning homes and shops. Some, namely those who lived on higher floors, tended to be trapped by burning debris. With help from the men of the house, they were able to get their loved ones out safely.

The blue haired man guided the old woman into the arms of her son. The poor woman was stuck upstairs as the home burned away. Her young grandsons sobbed into the hem of her skirt, the whole experience must have been terrible for them, with or without the risk of their grandmother dying horribly. The woman ignored the burns to her hands and hugged her grandchildren close to her whispering comforting words into their ears.

The family slowly headed to one of the safe areas. The father carried his two boys while his wife leads the old woman by the shoulders. The heart of the town was near-disserted, save for the brigands.

Chrom's breath was caught in his throat when he felt something suddenly barrel into him at full force. He was blown back a couple of meters before he and his attacker landed on the cobblestone. Chrom prompted himself up by one arm and looked over his shoulder with the full intention to retaliate against his attacker. He caught himself as soon as he saw the white hair and purple eyes on their coat sleeves.

Anali pushed herself back onto her knees and raked a hand through her bangs, pushing them out of her eyes. She was panting, sweat beaded down her brow. She held something in her arm close to her chest. It was a yellow book with gold markings on the cover. A Thunder tome?"

A metallic clang caught Chrom's attention. By Anali's feet, an ax landed on the ground; Chrom would have been it's intended target had Anali not acted. Immediately after Anali cradled her tome in one and tossed her free hand in the direction of the ax-wielding brigand. Orange-yellow runes circled around her hand as the page began to burn away. Before the bandit could act, volts of electricity struck the man in the chest, hurling him to the ground.

Anali snapped her tome closed; she glanced back at Chrom. "Sorry," she murmured, "there wasn't really any time for tact…"

"Given what could have been, I won't complain much," Chrom said, getting back up. Helping Anali to her feet he eyed the yellow book she held close to her chest. "You can use magic?"

"Apparently," said Anali. She lifted her cloak, revealing a sword and coin purse secured at her side. "Guess this thing has a few surprises in it."

Chrom grinned, tempted to correct Anali; it certainly wasn't her cloak that had a few surprises.

He grabbed Anali by the arm and pulled her into his chest. She was about to shout in protest until Chrom held Falchion out in front of them. The advancing swordsman brought his blade down upon them but remained blocked thanks to Chrom's quick thinking.

The sword ricocheted off Falchion. Fluidly Chrom retracted the sword and sprinted to the brigand, Anali followed close behind him, still holding her tome close to her. The blue haired man slashed his word against the ruffian who was promptly thrown back by Anali's Thunder spell. "They're not that strong," Anali said, holding the tome close to her. "Their armor looks fairly weak, so, really, they should go down with one good hit in the back or midsection."

Furrowing his brow, Chrom looked at Anali as though she had grown a twin out from her stomach. "You got all that with one look?" he asked.

Sheepishly, the white-haired girl shrugged. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Not to me."

Anali hugged her tome tighter and tried to hide in her collar again. She did not understand why Chrom was so intrigued by this information. It was not as though Anali did something that was so spectacular. Anyone could have figured it out if they paid close attention.

Chrom soon found that it was as Anali had said. The brigands were not well armed, nor did they have the strength to match Chrom, and most certainly not Frederick. What's more is that there were actually so few of them. Whether or not they had started out as such, or if the villagers actually succeeded in slaying a few was unknown. "These men look like their armatures," Anali said, eyeing one of the fallen brigands. "If we can find their leader and take him out, the others will probably surrender or flee for their lives. But with that said, I'd be willing to bet their leader is the strongest."

"If that's true then we ought to find Frederick," said Chrom. "He's our strongest and likely our best chance."

Finding Frederick was surprisingly easy, just follow the trail of bodies. When they finally found Frederick he had found him hiding in the shadows of an alleyway that lead to the church courtyard. Approaching him, Chrom explained Anali's observations to him, though the knight was a tad hesitant to take her advice straight off.

Sure enough, in the church courtyard, the bandit's leader set up a sort of base there. Vender's booths had been uprooted from their usual spots, creating a barricade of sorts as the brigand's leader took uphold by the church. There was evidence of the townsfolk making it this far and putting a fight. Pitchforks, shovels, and lances threw askew. But those who made it this far were clearly people of inexperience. Needless to say, they were struck down like tall grass.

There was a man, one whom Anali had to presume was the groups lead, had a muscular build to him, with a large ax in his possession to boot. There were four others close to him, two bore swords, one carried an ax, and the last held a green tome. Anali motioned at herself and at Chrom, then she pointed out the sword and tome wielding underlings. She gestured to Frederick, then to the ax-wielding underling and the band's leader, silently asking him if he could handle the last two.

When both Frederick and Chrom gave Anali a sign of approval the white-haired woman tried to motion for them to hid them all at once. But her way to convey this was to have the tips of her fingers meet with the open palm of her opposite hand. This ended up looking more like a wave crashing into shore.

Seeing the men's confusion Anali tried a different method by mouthing, _'All at once.'_ She pointed at Frederic, then held up five figure. _'Give us five seconds.'_

Taking a deep breath, Anali opened her tome, once again cradling the spine in one hand. Chrom took the lead, running out into the open, to which she followed close behind. He clashed blades with one of the bruits. The second blade-welding man swung at Chrom, he was thrown back by Anali's Thunder spell. She, herself, was suddenly tossed off her feet. The brigand's mage had cast his Wind spell straight at her.

A shrill whinny echoed around the area as Frederick road out into the open atop Cecil. The leader started shouting for his subordinates to counter-attack immediately. The brigand's mage prepared another spell. Gritting her teeth, Anali quickly got to her feet and held her open tome close to her. Electricity formed in her free hand. She bolted forward, driving the volt into the mage's side. The man gasped out before he fell over, bleeding out on the cobblestone.

Chrom fought off against the swordsmen with fluid motions, let it be blocking with his own blade or dodging an oncoming sword. However, with the three of them attacking him at once, it was difficult for Chrom to land a blow on either of them. Anali yanked the Wind tome out of the fallen mage's grasp and opened it. Blue-green runes circled around her hand as the spell knocked one of the ruffians off their feet, his sword fell a few yards away upon landing.

Stealing the opportunity Chrom used the confusion to stab the second swordsmen. The swordsman managed to get a hit in before he fell over dead, slashing Chrom on the brow enough to draw blood. The swordsman's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he slumped over, his sword fell from his hand with a clank-clang.

Another dull thud was heard as the barbarian fell over dead, the tip of Frederick's lance dripping with blood. "Damn you!" roared the band leader.

Brandishing his ax he sprinted up towards Frederick, likely with the intent to kill. As though it were his second nature, Frederick repositioned his lance. His heel nudged Cecil in her ribs, signaling her to rear back. As the horse came down, Frederick drove the lance into the ruffian's shoulder. Frederick drove it in pretty deep, almost up to his fist.

Frederick had to use both hands to get his lance out, he blanched at the amount of blood on his lance. Swiping it through the air a couple of times only succeeded in removing the substance mildly.

* * *

It took a bit of time, by they were able to successfully put out the fires across town. There were several homes that had minor damage, but some were not so lucky. However, the townsfolk had already gathered together to devise their restoration plans. The injured were cared for by the medical team Lissa had originally formed, but lead by the local apothecary.

When they found Lissa the first thing she noticed was the cut on Chrom's brow. Getting a couple cuts of cloth and a bottle of vulnerary she forced Chrom to sit down. She dabbed at the cut, causing her brother to flinch several times until the vulnerary was dabbed. Lissa demanded to know what happened, and when Anali even showed up. "Holy wow, Anali!" Lissa gushed when Chrom finished recounting events. "Sounds like you were really on top of things!"

"You're certainly no helpless victim, that much is for sure," Chrom agreed. "The Shepherds could use someone like you."

"Oh, yeah! Anali would fit in perfectly!"

"'Shepherds?'" Anali repeated, holding one arm close to her. "You tend sheep?"

As soon as the words left her lips, Lissa slapped a hand over her mouth, snorting in the process. "Something like that," Chrom said with a hint of mirth.

Anali started to fiddle with her fingers. She didn't want to belittle Southtown's tragedy, but she concerned about what would happen to her. Chrom initially said that they would sort this out when they arrived, did that still apply? "S-So…" Anali spoke up. "What… What happens now?"

"The sun's setting," Frederick said, causing Anali to jump. She whipped around to find Frederick standing behind her. "We won't be able to cover much ground before it gets dark. I suggest we stay the night at the inn and get an early start tomorrow."

Lissa punched the air with both fists. "Yes! Yes-yes-yes-yes- _yes!_ "

Instantly, Anali's hands went to the purse on her belt. Upon opening, she spilled the content onto her opposite hand. Seven stars, three moons, and a single sun. "I-I-I…"

Chrom close Anali's hand and gently pushed it to her chest. "Don't worry about the cost," he said. "We have it covered."

"But…"

"You actually understand currency?" Lissa asked.

"Lissa!" scolded Chrom.

"I… think so," said Anali. "Seventeen moons in a sun, twenty-nine stars make a moon…"

"Huh." Lissa tilted her head to the side. "What'd ya know."

"At least take what I have," Anali offered.

"Keep it for yourself," Chrom said firmly. "Trust me one extra bed won't be that much of a dent."

Anali bit her lower lip, another argument on her tongue. But a sudden growl from her stomach prevented anything from coming out. A blush formed on Anali's cheeks. "We'll ask the innkeeper if you can wash up before dinner," Chrom assured her.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** Right off the bat you can see a few differences between Anali and Robin. I've always described her as 'shy, but not to Olivia's levels.' This will become clearer later on when she's had a chance to know herself. A few notes;

Yes, Cecil was named for the character from FE3/12. Whether or not it was a deliberate thing on Frederick's part I don't know.

And the currency is pretty much the same currency from Harry Potter. So a sun is worth about six US dollars.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two  
An Unwelcome Change**

She held the pitcher over her head, allowing hot water to drench her. She opened her eyes to see the water turn a faint rusty brown color around her. Upon parting her bangs with the tips of her fingers, Anali reached for the soap bottle she put just within reach.

After checking in at the… well, the inn, Lissa went straight to the church to see if they had any clothing donations in Anali's size. Anali, herself, was brought to her room where the washtub had been prepared. The inn workers had left a small collection of soaps for her to choose from. Left alone, Anali simply stared at the washtub dumbly.

She exhaled through her nose before she started to shrug off her coat. By some miracle, the coat had naught a drop of blood on it. Because of how big it was perhaps? She found the collar she enjoyed hiding in was actually part of a bolero. Short sleeved, primarily black but trimmed with golden-yellow fabric around the edges, sleeves and the high collar.

She had on a kilt that matched her coat, along with a fairly large belt that covered her midsection. Despite its size, it wouldn't do much protecting. The material was thin, easy to move in. At best, it could mildly protect her from a magic attack. Maybe.

Her boots had a sort of extension on them, cradling her baggy pants. Why did she wear her slacks like this? It seemed like it would be a bit of a hassle. What Anali didn't like was the top she wore. Whenever she bent over Anali felt like she was revealing more than she was comfortable with. Wasn't all of this clothing that was better suited for the desert, though?

And how in the heck did Anali know that?

Anali brought a hand to her eyes, wiping the water from her eyes. She took a lock of hair between her fingers, no blood. That was a relief, cleaning blood out of white fabric was difficult, but hair? She imagined that had to be difficult.

She released the locks; Anali stared at the back of her right hand. The purple mark, vaguely v-shape, with three eyes on either side. It wasn't like the mark on Chrom's arm, Anali was willing to believe it was a birthmark as easily as it was a tattoo. However, this _had to be_ a tattoo.

She shook her head, scooped a handful of dirty and soapy water into her hands and splashed it onto her face. Hands flat, Anali scrubbed the palms against her face, against her neck. A final check before she got out of the tub. Grabbing a towel, Anali stood up and wrapped it around her. She took a moment to scrutinize herself; Anali was a thin thing. It may have been why her top was so loose on her. Anali could feel the bones in her wrists, her shoulders, her ribs. She was waifish, not starved, but she was toeing the line between being just 'thin' and 'unhealthily thin.' Weight gain was something she could benefit from.

When Anali was satisfied with her towel-dried skin she dressed in her smallclothes. She dropped most of her clothes into the washtub, no counting her boots and coat. As they soaked, Anali seated herself on the bed. Her fingers fiddled with the sleeve of her coat before she took the whole thing into her hands. She placed it over her shoulders and nestled in.

There was a comfort found in the coat. It was warm, big, like someone's embrace. It was something she could fall asleep in so easily. Anali hugged the coat close to her as she started humming a tune. The tune came to her with little trouble, it was the words that alluded her, there were only two words in the lyrics that came to her, _'flying birds.'_ But she still had no idea what the context was.

As far as Anali could tell, she didn't finish the song before she could feel the tears welling in her eyes. Her voice started warbling, grinding the song to a complete halt. Her breathing shuttered as she tried to dry her eyes with the heel of her hand. No matter how many times she brought the heels of her hand to dry her eyes the tears kept coming.

"All right, Anali!" Lissa entered the room with an armful of clothes. "I don't know your size, so I brought a few things in various sizes so you can- Hey, what's wrong?!"

Lissa had just rounded the bed where she spotted Anali trying to dry her eyes. "I don't know!" Anali said pathetically with a wet face.

The blonde plopped the clothes on the bed, stood in front of Anali and took older girl's chin into her hand. Lissa let out a few soothing 'shh's' while she dabbed at Anali's eyes and face with her apron. "It's going to be all right," Lissa reassured her, "we'll get this sorted out when we get to Ylisstol, you'll be fine."

Was Lissa under the impression Anali was crying because of her overall situation? Was that even the reason why she was crying? It was only then that Anali realized Lissa had put away her crinoline and her corset top. The lack of either or made her golden yellow dress look quite frumpy.

"There we go!" Lissa released Anali's chin with a bold smile. She gestured to the clothes beside Anali. "As I was saying earlier, I didn't know your size, so I brought you stuff in a few different sizes."

"Oh! Uh…" Anali shrugged her coat off. "Thank you…"

The majority of tunics had the same problem as Anali's original top, even the one that fit best. The color was a horrid green, the sleeves looked ridiculously long on her, even when rolled up several times they would fall back down. Lissa helped her tie the back of the tunic to help with the excess fabric. The slacks were still kind of big on her, but that was easily solved by her own belts.

When Anali was finally dressed Lissa helped her brush out the knots in her hair, she felt Lissa's fingers run through the strands. "Wow," she breathed out, "silky soft. Yeesh. Between your volume and hair color, I'm half-tempted to scalp you for it."

Anali's face fell. "Uh…"

"I'm kidding. Jeez." Lissa patted Anali on the shoulder. "C'mon, we should be ready to eat soon."

Instinctively, Anali wrapped an arm around her stomach. She could only describe the feeling in her gut as her stomach eating itself. When was the last time she ate anything? "Okay…"

Lissa lead the way to the mess hall downstairs. The room was packed, people sitting shoulder to shoulder, the chatter across the room bled into one booming voice. "Is the inn usually this packed?" Anali murmured, feeling her pulse quicken.

"Not usually, I think," Lissa said, scanning the room. "I heard some places are essentially having an open house tonight. After the attack, the inn's letting people come and dine even if they're not staying the night. The church has their doors open, people are getting together."

Her eyes let up when she spotted just what she was looking for. Lissa grabbed Anali by the hand and lead her down one of the ales between people and tables. Anali's gaze traveled around, taking in the sights around her. She noticed the occasional man or woman staring back at her. Some of them carried a glare in their eye like she was an inset that needed to be squashed.

Anali's eyes gazed down instantly, her pulse in her ears. Had she done something to offend? It wasn't until then did Anali realize something fundamentally important; no one else in the room looked like her. While there were those with tanned skin, it was suntanned, not their natural skin tone. The lightest hair colors they had was blonde, and as far as she could tell no one had her shade of eyes.

Was that why they were staring at her? Because she was some 'exotic' in their eyes?

"Well, you're looking quite refreshed," Chrom said, snapping Anali from her thoughts. Lissa finally released Anali's hand, rounded the table, and took her seat beside Frederick. "I'm sure you'll start feeling better after we get a bit of food in you."

"Y-Yeah…" She took her seat beside Chrom.

Her eyes gazed up and nearly fell back when she saw Frederick without his armor. It was not so much that he was without his armor, but more that he now looked more like a butler than anything. All he was missing was the jacket and he had the look of a butler down to pat. Anali wasn't sure what was odder, Frederick's garb, or the fact that he didn't have a single wrinkle on his person.

The room erupted into applause as the food was brought out. Workers brought each table a large platter of white meat and pot of soup. Anali caught sight of Frederick letting out a sigh of relief just as a platter was placed in front of them.

Anali breathed in the sent, the reaction was instantaneous. She piled meat onto her plate, one bite and she was able to recognize it as turkey. Anali was vaguely aware of the displeased look Frederick was giving her. It wasn't until she had swallowed three mouthfuls did she realize she wasn't exactly using table manners.

Her cheeks flushed as she grabbed her knife and started to cut up her meat. She heard Frederick let out an aggravated sigh which was soon after followed by a thud. Frederick let out a brief grunt, his hands braced against the table. In the corner of her eye, Anali could see Chrom eyeing Lissa, who returned the look with her own sweet, innocent smile. "There are better ways to scold Frederick, Lissa," Chrom said with a sigh. "We don't know when Anali last ate, so you ought to excuse-"

"That's not an excuse, though!" Anali gasped. "I should have-"

"Anali, it's fine," Lissa stressed. "We understand."

"Most of us," murmured Frederick.

"So, his distrust in me hasn't changed?" Anali asked scoping tomato soup into her bowl.

"It's hard to change Frederick's mind once it's set," Chrom said with a slight list of the head.

"Hmm…" Anali took her bowl into her hands and brought the rim to her lips. She took a few chugs before she placed it back on the table. "A little perspective, Freddy. Lissa was alone with me, in my room, with my tome and sword, nothing happened."

Lissa, with her mouth full, pointed her fork at Anali and nodded. "Perhaps," Frederick agreed, "but that still leaves the matter of escape."

"I could scrutinize those brigands earlier. I think I could find a way to escape through the window safely," Anali said plainly.

"Hey, Chrom," Lissa said upon swallowing her own soup, "before they turn this into a massive debate, has Anali given you an answer?"

Anali could feel Chrom's gaze on her, causing her to look down at her plate with a flush on her face. She hadn't even considered Chrom's offer since he made it. There were other things on Anali's mind besides herding sheep. "Not yet," admitted Chrom. Anali could hear his hair ruffle as he scratched the back of his neck.

"So…" Anali murmured. She drew circles on the table with the tip of her finger. "What happens after tonight?"

"A valid question, milord," Frederick said with a cocked brow. It was like he was silently telling Chrom to be smart about this.

"Regardless of Anali's choice, we'll be taking her back to Ylisstol. We'll help her start up a life, perhaps as an apprentice of sorts."

Anali gazed up at Chrom just as he shrugged his shoulders absently, as though he was just throwing out the idea. Set up a life for her? An apprenticeship? Could he do that? How much power did noblemen have in Ylisse?

"Thank you…" Anali murmured. She tried to hide behind her hair. He barely knew her, yet he was being so kind, Lissa too. And Anali had no way to repay them.

Come time to turn in for the night, Anali hung up her wet clothes and stripped down to her small clothes before she cocooned herself in the covers. After the day she had, she needed a good night's sleep.

But that was far easier said than done, as she found. She had a comfortable few minutes, a soft bed, warm covers. But then Anali realized just how quiet it was; a deathly silence. Anali tossed and turned, unable to get back to that comfortable state. She let out a dry sob into the pillow, hating the silence and hating how she just couldn't doze off.

It must have been early morning before Anali finally dozed off.

* * *

 _The rain fell in in fat drops of ice. A wyvern and pegasus flew over the cavern as a small group sprinted across a rickety old bridge. A trio brought up the back, a young woman and a young man followed by a woman well into her adult years. The woman's blond hair fell over her shoulders in gentle curls, her calming green robes flew behind her as she ran._

 _"Behind you!" shouted a tall young man from the bridge._

 _Grey-skinned creatures that stood ragged and stiff with moth-eaten garb rose out from the ground. The creatures wore metallic masks, human compared to their sickly, withered appearances. Death mask? Were these creatures corpses, walking corpses?_

 _One of the creatures dressed in tattered Sage robes extended its hand. A ball of fire shot out of its head, headed straight at Lissa. Hearing the wind headed in her direction, she threw herself to the side, dodging the oncoming blast. The young man with her pulled to a stop, calling for her._

 _He was about to make his way towards Lissa when she held her hand up, stopping him. She used her staff to help her onto her feet. Relieved, the boy continued after his female companion. The boy was half-way across the bridge when he looked over his shoulder to find Lissa standing her ground. "Mother!" he shouted._

 _The pair's female companion stopped and turned. Her hands flew to her mouth, terrified. The boy moved forward, his hand reached out with the intent of dragging Lissa along with him even if she was kicking and screaming. "Not another step forward, young man!" Lissa said her voice as firm and commanding as she could get it. "They're going to keep following no matter what, but at the very least, I can buy you all a bit of time."_

 _"No, you can't!" The girl choked on a sob. "They'll…"_

 _"I know," Lissa said with a brief nod of the head. "And I'm okay with that."_

 _"Mother, this is crazy!" the boy said frantically. "We'll go together, just like we planned! Just take my-"_

 _Lissa cut him off. "I'm sorry, dear. I'm so sorry…" she glanced over her shoulder at him, tears in her eyes, "just don't ever forget how much we loved you."_

 _She whipped herself around, revealing an Archfire tome in her hand, her staff tucked under her arm. She threw her hand at each post, setting fire to the ropes keeping the bridge_ supported _. "Now go!" Lissa shouted._

 _Lissa ran forward, casting Archfire spells at the corpse creatures. She took out two before an ax-wielding creature brought it's_ axe _down, throwing Lissa to the ground. "Mother!" the boy shouted._

 _"Damn it, just go!" Lissa's voice broke as she pulled herself to her knees._

 _Lissa wrapped her hands around her staff, using it as like a mace. She pulled her arms back and swung. The décor of the staff sliced into one of the creatures neck. A new creature rose out from the ground. For some reason Lissa froze, dropping her tome and staff. The girl gasped out, "Oh gods!"_

 _The creature whipped it's sword out, moving far more fluidly than it's fellows. Lissa hardly reacted when the creature drove its sword into Lissa. The young man screamed her name; he tried to run across the bridge to her as Lissa fell to her knees. His female companion shouted his name as she grabbed him by the arm. "We have to go!" she yelled, tears spilling down her face. "We have to go!"_

 _The girl looked up to find fire still eating away at the ropes. She saw how little time they had left she wasn't playing nice with the boy. She tried to forcefully pull him onto solid ground despite her friend's struggle. But it was too late. The fire had spread from the support beams to the ropes themselves. The ropes on the beams snapped before the girl could get them on the other side._

 _The bridge bounced tossing the pair into the air before it fell out from underneath their feet. The force of it all caused the girl to lose her grip on the boy, much to her horror. The boy with the wide brim hat caught onto the girl's arm pulling her onto the ground with the help of another companion. The boy, however, fell, causing the girl to scream. The young man with the hat and their friend both had their arms wrapped around the girl's midsection, as she fought against them._

 _She only calmed down in a moment of confusion as a girl on a white pegasus and flew down the ravine. She flew back up_ moment's _later with the boy clinging to her for dear life._

 _The sky above them darkened. A massive creature flew overhead, blocking out what little light there was. More corpses fell from the creature, causing some sort of reaction from the group. Behind the girl bits of dirt and rock shot out, a new creature forced its way out of the ground._

 _Though freshly dead, Lissa's skin had turned the same sickly shade of grey as the other creatures. Her once friendly green eyes had turned a harsh shade of red. Her head bobbed as she lifted her arms into a gesture that would have been welcoming otherwise. "Come… to… Ma…ma…"_

Anali woke with a start, her blood ran cold, her heart pounded in her chest so hard it should have rattled her ribs. Her hands raked through her hands through her bangs, cradling her forehead in her palms. What the hell was that?

What the actual hell was that?!

* * *

Anali hugged her coat close to her as they prepared to leave the inn that morning. She kept her head down as they left Southtown, people were staring at her, she knew it. She was a scaly insect that needed to be squashed in their eyes. She stood out, some kind of 'other.' It was a relief to be on the road, only then did she let her guard down.

Come the day's end, Chrom was impressed with Anali. She was not physically fit, come mid-day she was worn out, struggling to keep up. While Lissa would converse with her, Anali replied out of breath. But still, she didn't complain. She toughed it out as best as she could.

It was more than he could say for Lissa…

Night had fallen when they were several miles outside of Ylisstol, much to Lissa's dismay. She swatted her hands. "The bug's are out! The bugs are out!"

"It's not that bad, Lissa," Chrom said with a sigh.

"Not that bad?" Lissa repeated. "The disgusting, noisy bugs that buzz around, crawl all over, and bite are 'not that bad?' Are you even my brother?!"

"Come now, Lissa. Hardship builds character."

"Yeah, well between this, walking all day, and everything yesterday I think I've built up quite enough character for the time being."

A low gurgling sound rumbled from Anali's belly. All eyes turned in her direction; the woman's expression dropped as a blush appeared on her face. Giggling weakly, Anali placed one hand on her stomach, trying, and failing to silence it. Embarrassed, Anali rubbed he back of her neck with one hand. "I suppose some hunting and gathering is in order," Frederick teased. "Now, who wants to clear the campsite?"

Lissa crossed her arms over her chest, her cheeks puffed. "Come on, Lissa," Anali said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "we can clear out the campsite together."

"Fine…" moaned Lissa.

Frederick marked the campsite for the girls to clear out while he gathered firewood and Chrom hunted. Anali mostly followed Lissa's instruction as she really didn't know what she was doing. In the end, it didn't really matter much, Frederick spotted a few overlooked faults and took it upon himself to clear it out. It left an utterly clean patch of dirt for the fire pit and campsite.

Lissa had to cringe when Chrom returned with a couple of dead rabbits and squirrels, Anali would have done the same, but found it in her to just grin and bear it. Enough for her to help Chrom skin the animals while Frederick made the fire. She lost track of the skins though she assume either Chrom or Frederick had the rabbit furs stowed away somewhere. They were in pretty good condition and could have made a fine pillow or something of the like for display.

The roar of the fire and scent of cooking meat was enough to drive Anali crazy with hunger. Even after having her fill the night before she could eat a horse. In an attempt to distract herself, she brushed her hand under her nose. "Is it a wise idea to have a fire going on in the middle of the night?" she asked Chrom. "Won't we attract bandits?"

"You say that after seeing how we handled brigand's in Southtown?" Chrom countered with a bemused tone. "I would think it's safe to assume we'll be fine."

Anali's head bobbed from left to right in an odd nod of agreement. Another growl rumbled from her stomach, much to her embarrassment.

When Frederick deemed the meat safe for conception Anali's mouth was watering. She tore her teeth into the leg of a squirrel with little problem. Chrom, following Anali's lead, tore off a bit of rabbit for himself when he looked to find Lissa. She sat herself down, her hands on her lap the same way Emmeryn would during polite conversation. "What's wrong, Lissa?" asked Chrom. "Dig in."

"Think I'll pass," Lissa said simply. Her eyes glanced down at the meat over the fire before she looked back up at Chrom. "Couldn't you have speared us something people normally eat? I can't eat something so cute and soft I want to cuddle it! And squirrel?! Really?! We don't know where it's been! It could have rabbits or something! Isn't that right, Anali?" No response. "Anali?"

A few grunts came from Anali who devoured her meat with vigor. She held a squirrel leg in one hand and a rabbit leg in the other; she alternated between the two, never letting up. Abruptly, her face started to pale, her eyes widened, she started to beat her fist against her chest. Chrom almost reached out for Anali when she started to take a few deeps breathes in. Catching her breath, she looked up at the three with a sheepish grin.

Shoulders drooping, Lissa sighed, "I guess someone that malnourished would enjoy whatever what placed in front of them…"

"Just eat it, Lissa," Chrom said irritably, "meat is meat."

"How could you make me eat something as cute as a bunny? Or as filthy as a squirrel?!"

"Every experience makes us stronger, milady," Frederick chided gently. "Even those we don't particularly enjoy."

Lissa's eyes narrowed. "Really? Is that why I don't see you eating anything, Frederick?"

"I had a large lunch, milady."

"Oh, really?" Lissa fringed intrigue. "You mean the lunch we didn't have?"

Sighing in defeat, Chrom waved his hand once. "Fine. Go without anything tonight. Just don't complain about an empty stomach in the morning."

"Fine by me." Lissa folded her hands back in her lap. A sickening gurgle came from Anali's belly. The young woman held her stomach, fighting the urge to throw up. "But, from where _I_ stand, it's not _my_ stomach you should be worrying about."

* * *

He couldn't really put into words what had him unsettled. Around him, Lissa, Frederick, and Anali were sleeping soundly. The fire pit still had a few smoking embers, and Chrom could still smell smoke and meat. By all means, it was peaceful at the moment, but something left him unnerved.

Chrom stood up in spite of his better judgment, he stood up with the intent of surveying the area. The hard part would be sneaking away from the campsite without waking Frederick. He was nothing if not diligent, a light sleeper par excellence. Which was largely why he felt remotely comfortable with no one actually keeping watch.

But, it wasn't Frederick Chrom woke up. It was Lissa. She sat up, one eye half-laden as she rubbed the other. "What's wrong, Big Brother?" she asked.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, but," he glanced over his shoulder, "something is amiss…"

Lissa stood up and dusted off her skirt. "Define 'something.'"

"I'm not sure. I was thinking about having a look around."

"Not alone, you aren't!" Lissa pumped both fists. "I'm coming with you."

He let out a brief chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks, Lissa."

Walking back towards the road was easy enough. Frederick had not stirred, and there was little sign of any other travelers nearby. It was a clear night, perhaps a blessing they chose to camp out for the night. But it did little help Chrom's unease.

As they walked, Lissa eventually hugged herself and stuck close by him. "Hey, Chrom…" she said tentatively, "is it… kind of quite to you?"

Chrom's breath hitched. How long had it been since he heard the sounds of nature and life in the woods? "What on earth could-"

The earth started to shake abruptly and violently. Instinctively Chrom brought a leg back, mimicking the defensive stance of his swordplay. In contrast, Lissa fell to her knees and planted her hands on the ground to keep herself up.

Chrom's turned his gaze all over the place, taking a quick observation of the area. He could see trees topple over as though an unseen giant were knocking them down without effort. They weren't safe here. "Lissa," Chrom placed his hands on Lissa's back and shoulder, "run."

"Huh?"

"I mean it! Go!" He guided Lissa back onto her feet, gently pushing her forward.

Obediently, Lissa took off running with Chrom at her heels, just in time to miss the fissure forming where they stood. The fissure grew, creating a new cliff where the land was once flat. Chrom stole a quick glance over his shoulder to find a wave of molten magma spurting up from the ground. "Lissa, no matter what happens do not look behind you!" Chrom ordered. From his perspective, she may have nodded.

The magma rained down around them, the size of melons. Trees and greenery were set ablaze before long. Diverging from the path, Chrom shouted for Lissa to follow him. He leaped down a small fissure, his arms held out catching Lissa by the arms when she jumped down after him.

Around them, molten rock rained down upon the forest, the fires growing around them. Chrom soon cursed himself for leaving the campsite. What had become of Frederick and Anali?

"Chrom," Lissa placed a hand on his arm. "What is that?!"

He half-turned to find Lissa pointing at the sky. The fire gave off an orange glow, mimicking early dawn. But that wasn't what Lissa was referring to. A light appeared, large and brighter than the stars trapped in the sky. The light grew, the stars going out, like the light was sucking them into it's being. In a flash golden yellow runes formed around the light, the characters were unfamiliar to Chrom. The light in the center of the circle began to crystallize, growing about half as long as the circle. Like any old lid on a trunk, the crystal barrier opened, revealing an ethereal blue center.

Slowly the gate ejected several beings, the landed in a heap before Chrom and Lissa. Chrom counted seven thuds; the fall, by all means, should have harmed them, but one by one, they stood up. Stiff and rigged, but unharmed. Upon closer inspection, Chrom could see their sickly skin, varying from greys to black. There was a sudden stench in the air that mixed with the burning sent of wood.

They wore the Ylissean garb of Fighter's, Mercenary's, Archer's, and Fighters. Their facial features were hidden behind death masks. "Lissa," Chrom removed Falchion from its sheath at his waist, "you'd better stand back."

He missed the nod Lissa gave as she took a couple of steps back. The creatures, Chrom wasn't sure what to call them, prowled forward. One of the Fighter's opened it's mouth, emitting a black haze. It lifted one arm, revealing a dirtied axe momentarily before it tore forward. With it's running start, it leaped into the air, it's axe drawn back. Fluidly, Chrom readied his sword, slicing into its chest before it could make a landing.

The creature, however, still stood, when Chrom knew it should have done something. He performed the maneuver countless times, the creature should have started bleeding if nothing else. He heard a sickening snap and half turned to find the Fighter had turned his head around back at Chrom. Completely, unnaturally around.

The Fighter twirled itself around, swinging its axe towards him. Chrom brought Falchion in front of him, blocking the axe successfully. The Fighter tried to force Falchion out its path, causing Chrom to struggle against it. He maneuvered Falchion, pushing the axe safely away from him. The creature stumbled back, landing face-first on the ground. Stealing the opportunity, Chrom leaped forward and drove the tip of Falchion into the creatures back.

It froze momentarily before it started to disintegrate into a purple-black haze. Chrom took the moment to breathe, ignoring the sweat forming on his brow. When he felt he could relax, he would worry about how the creature left behind no body.

His heart sank into the pit of his stomach when he heard a scream. A familiar sound that usually came with a rather comical moment, but this was not one of them. Shouting Lissa's name, Chrom turned to find one of the Fighter's stalking towards her. Lissa, weaponless, slowly backed up until she came to a moss ridden bolder. She held her arms up in front of her in a feeble attempt to defend herself. With her back pressed against the rock, Lissa sunk down, not quite sitting, but she wasn't standing straight.

As the Fighter raised its axe, Chrom pulled Falchion out of the ground and moved to sprint towards Lissa and hope he could get there in time. Unknown to the group below, a new figure emerged for the ethereal gate. With the grace of a Pegasus Knight, the figure glided down to the ground, landing with equal grace. Chrom, in his singular focus made out a flash of blue dotted with white.

The Fighter was about to bring it's axe upon Lissa when the blue-clad figure stood between Lissa and the Fighter, his sword held behind his head, successfully blocking the axe. Lissa, eye's squeezed shut, hesitantly peeled one eye open to find a young man shielding her from the odd fighter. He struggled against the power of the Fighter; he glanced over his shoulder at a dumbfounded Chrom, "Help!"

Chrom snapped out of his revelry, the time for questions would come later. He readjusted his grip on Falchion and sprinted towards the Fighter. His battle cry was just enough to distract the Fighter and allow the young man to maneuver himself around and repositioned his sword. Together, they sliced into the Fighter's midsection. Like it's fallen fellow, the creature froze for several moments before it dropped its arms and its head, then disintegrated.

The only thing heard was Lissa's frightened breathing, that she tried to calm, and the crackling fires. The boy slid his sword into its sheath as Chrom studied his person. His blue hair was cut short with a gold tiara atop the crown of his head. He was dressed primarily in blue, save for the instances of white, and the red on the inside of his cape. He must have been around Lissa's age, fifteen or sixteen, maybe even fourteen; scrawny, and never having shaved his chin a day in his life. From his nose up his face was hidden behind a blue butterfly mask outlined by gold paint. "Quite an entrance there," said Chrom. "What's your name?"

* * *

Anali woke up with a start as soon as she felt the ground rumbled something fierce beneath her. The shrill cries from Cecil would have been the second thing to wake her. Frederick was already on his feet, trying to calm the beast down. "Cecil, easy sweetheart, easy!"

Anali stood up, her eyes darted around. There was no sign of either Chrom or Lissa. Biting her lip, she could feel her blood run ice cold. Frederick, successfully calming Cecil down, pulled himself onto her saddle and took the reins into his hands. "They couldn't have gotten far," he said, more to himself than to Anali. The horse took a couple of steps forward then stopped in front of Anali. "Get on."

Immediacy, Anali planted a fist in front of her mouth, her hands trembling. She wasn't sure why, but the thought of getting on that horse terrified her. They were powerful creatures, so perhaps that was why she was a more than a little intimidated by this one mare. The armor Cecil wore did nothing to make her seem welcoming and endearing. "Y-You go on ahead," Anali said weakly, "I'll catch up…"

Frederick's brow furrowed. "Not in all of this, you won't." Without warning, he grabbed Anali by the back of the coat and pulled her onto the mare behind him. "Loathe as I am to admit it, we're better off sticking together."

Cecil took off into a full gallop, the abruptness caused Anali to wrap her arms around Frederick's solar plexus without a care of what he would think. Her heart pounded in her ears, a cold sweat started beading on her brow, her teeth rattled as they traveled. She was apprehensive; there was a ferocious earthquake, she was on horseback, and Chrom and Lissa were missing. In short, Anali was terrified.

The horse suddenly skirted to a stop as a wave of molten magma rose into the are; balls of fire rained down upon the forest. Tree leaves and bristles caught fire, spreading almost instantaneously. Frederick urged his horse to take a left, the mare barreled through the forest until they came to a sudden cliff resulting from a fissure. Anali's mouth started to water. She looked from the ledge to Frederick's face and back. _'Gods, please don't let him be thinking what I think he is…'_

Frederick clicked his tongue twice, Cecil circled around, trotted back several meters, then circled back around. _'And he is…'_

She tightened her grip before Cecil took off into a run, her eyes squeezed shut when they came to the ledge. Cecil pushed off the ledge, causing clumps of dirt to fall under her hooves. Anali felt them slide to a stop when they came to solid ground. Panting, Anali looked back up the ledge they had just come down from.

"Is… Is the horse okay?" Anali asked, panting.

"Not to worry." Frederick patted his mare on the neck. Had the situation not been so dire, it would have sounded boastful. "It will take more than that to take down my dear Cecil."

With a click of the tongue, Cecil continued her trek. The sky was filled with smoke and embers like the burning forest had spread to the very sky above them. A bright white light shown through the trees. Frederick instructed the horse to follow the direction of the light. There was no guarantee they would find Lissa and Chrom, but it was the only thing to go by.

Miraculously, it did not take long for them to find Lissa and Chrom with the blue-clad young man. "Milord! Milady!" Frederick exclaimed as the rode up to the trio. "Are you hurt?"

When Cecil came to a stop Anali tried to dismount, though she ended up landing in a heap on the ground. Frederick followed suit with the grace Anali lacked. "Frederick! Anali!" Lissa breathed out. As soon as Anali forced herself to her feet, she grabbed onto Anali's forearms. She leaned in enough that Anali had to keep Lissa from falling over.

Spotting seven creatures surrounding them, Anali's eyes widened. They were armed soldiers with pasty skin, she could smell the rotting stench of death. Her nightmare the other night came to mind, but she forced the thoughts away, instead, she wondered how she knew what the dead smelt like. "These uh…" she paused to swallow, "These creatures are not commonplace in Ylisse, are they?"

Chrom shook his head once. "I couldn't tell you what they are."

"So no one is injured?" Frederick asked when his first question was left unanswered. He took the resulting silence as an answer, "Thank the gods…"

"You should thank the boy who saved me!" Lissa pulled away from Anali, her usual chipper attitude was back once more. "If it wasn't for him I'd be…" She paused, scrutinizing the area, she found the boy with the mask was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd he go?"

"We'll have time to worry about him later, milady," Frederick said, offering Lissa a healing staff. When Lissa took it, Frederick pulled himself back into Cecil's saddle effortlessly. "After we put these… things to the blade, that is. Now, stay focused, all of you. We know nothing about this enemy."

"Which mean's we'll want Lissa to stay close by," Anali said, unsheathing her sword with a sharp hiss. Looking at the creatures, her brow furrowed. "They look stronger, armed far better, than the brigands in Southtown. Someone should stay close to Lissa, keep her safe."

"I shall take care of that," said Frederick. "Will the two of you be able to keep yourselves alive?"

"Of course," Chrom said instantly.

He sprinted off towards one of the Fighter creatures. Stupidly, Anali watched as he sliced Falchion through the creature as though he were a dancer. Fighting was truly second nature to him.

For better or worse, Anali was snapped out of her revelry when one of the Mercenaries brought a sword down. She just barely managed to dodge out of the swords path. She wrapped both hands around the hilt of her bronze sword and just swung it towards the Mercenary. The sword felt so odd in her hands, she had no idea what she was doing with the damn thing. The village idiot with a stick would have been doing a better job than her.

The Mercenary attacked again, its sword grazed Anali's sleeve. Without truly thinking things through, Anali plunged her sword into the corpses midsection. There was a long, agonizing moment of silence where the two just stared at each other, ignoring the chaos around them. When she tried to pull the sword out, the blade hardly budged an inch.

The Mercenary came back to its sense and readied its sword. Squeezing her eyes shut, Anali lifted her sword with as much strength she could muster. She lifted with her legs, guiding the blade up. By some miracle, Anali managed to force the blade out of the creature through its shoulder. Once it was freed she nearly fell over without the force of the corpse to fight against her.

The creature let out an odd, strained cry before it dissolved into the dark haze. Instinctively, Anali looked down to find dozens of bugs scattering around her boots. Their shelled backs a metallic purple color, and as long as her thumb. A terrified shriek escaped from Anali's throat. She scampered back, tripping over herself in her rush to get away.

"I'd learn to use that sword properly before going into battle next time!" Anali heard over the trotting of hooves. "Also I'd get up before you make yourself a sitting duck."

A young woman pulled back on her horse's reigns as she drove the tip of her lance through one of the Fighter corpses. Her red hair was just in a pageboy style but curled at the ends. She was dressed in red armor, with her horse wearing matching armor. At first glance, she was most definitely not a woman to take anything from anyone. "Captain Chrom!" the woman called looking into the battlefield.

Several yards away, Chrom drew his arm back after beheading the corpse he was battling against. He glanced up in the direction of the voice to find the redhaired woman. "Sully! Good timing." Chrom was beaming. "We could use another set of hands."

Anali looked up at the woman, she was almost as intimidating as Frederick. "You… You know Chrom and Lissa?"

The woman looked down at her. Her head list to the side, her eyebrow cocked, her full lips pursed. "Who're you?"

Her face flushed instantly. "Ah… I-I'm, eh… Ah-Anali," she stuttered, "I-I'm just…"

"Don't take your eyes off the enemy!"

Without warning, the woman, Sully, removed her foot out of the saddles stirrup and kicked Anali in the shoulder. Her sword fell out of her hand, her arms flailed. Anali caught herself before she could fall. Sully pulled at her horse's reigns, signally the stallion to turn around. She jabbed her lance into the shoulder of one of the Fighter cadaver.

Anali's hands acted as though what she was doing was second nature to her. She ignored the sword at her feet and pulled out her tome. Opening to a random page, the paper began to burn away, the ashes transforming into orange-yellow runes around her hand. A volt of electricity shot out, striking the Fighter and finished it off.

"Milady!" came a voice with the most peculiar accent in a sing-song tone.

A tall dandy with long, light blue hair, emerged from the forest. He had a quiver of arrows strapped to his back. A silvery pauldron and couter shielded his left arm. He was clearly a bit older than either Sully or Anali. Though he was out of breath, he tried to keep an air of charisma about him.

"Oh, great," Sully moaned ruefully. She glared at the blue-haired man. "I thought I lost you a mile ago."

The man rattled on, ignoring the chaos around him. "Life may be long but this attraction is fleeting! Leave war to the warriors, dear bird! A beauty such as you needs wage only in love."

Anali glanced at Sully while she pointed at the man. "Friend of yours?"

"Pfft! Hardly!"

"Ah, the ladies are intrigued?" the man chuckled, impressed with himself. "Of course you are - it is only natural." He started to make wild gestures with his arms. "For I am a myth and legend! For I am he, who strides large across histories greatest stage! My name, lovely ladies, is Vi-"

"Got'cha!"

The man let out a ridiculously high-pitched scream as a blur of red slammed into him. He landed face first on the ground, a young woman wearing red and tawny brown clothes sat on the man's back, her feet planted his wrists to the ground. Blonde hair poked out of her tawny bandana. She looked up at Sully, revealing rusty eyes and a face dotted with freckles. "Sorry…" the girl said, looking up at Sully, "I tried to keep up."

"Do I know you?" Sully asked plainly.

"Mm… no." The girl shook her head. She placed a gloved hand on the back of the man's skull. "Heard this jerk giving you trouble, thought I'd help a sister out."

"Hold on." Anali crouched down beside the man and looked down at him. "You're an archer, right? Are you any good?"

The man lifted his head, an action so sudden the girl jumped off him, landing on her back. "Virion!" he exclaimed, his suave was gone. "My name is Virion!"

"Alright," said Anali, " _Virion_ , are you a good archer?"

Gracefully, Virion stood up, startling the girl further. "'Am I a good archer,' she asks? Well, you shall be the judge of that."

He took his bow and an arrow into his hands, he notched the arrow and pulled back the string. Anali's heart was in her throat when Virion took aim straight at her. She opened her tome, cradling it close to her chest. She readied herself; if this man was about to fire at her to prove a point, then she would-

To her surprise, however, Virion released the arrow, that flew past Anali's cheek. It was just close enough so that she could feel a small gust of wind. She heard a strained cry from behind her, vaguely familiar as she had been hearing it a lot lately. Anali, Sully, and the girl looked to find an archer, who had taken aim at Sully. Virion's arrow had struck in its skull. Its shoulders slacked before it disintegrated. Now, Anali could see the shelled bugs scattering at its feet. They buried themselves into the ground so fast…

"But, I would think so," Virion replied coolly.

"Okay." Anali gripped her chin between her thumb and forefinger. "Okay. This works out for us. I mean since you're here you might as well help." Her gaze bounced between Virion and the girl. "Right? Virion, I want you to take Frederick's place guarding Lissa. You," she pointed at the girl.

"Ruby," she said plainly.

"Ruby. Do you mind sticking with Sully? These things look kind of tough, so I would think you two can help each other."

"We are to battle this… things?" Virion gestured to the walking corpses. "What do you take me for? Some barbari-"

"Hey!" Sully grabbed Virion by the back of his collar and lifted him up so that he was standing on the balls of his feet. " _You_ followed _me_ all the way here! _You_ may as well help."

"Especially after dragging me into all this," Ruby muttered, a sword leaned against her shoulder.

"Sully, Ruby," Anali spoke up, "I want you two to stay by the field borders, we don't want these things to get away."

"Sure thing." Sully released Virion, and offered a hand to Ruby, taking it, she mounted Sully's stallion behind his rider. Sully urged her horse forward towards a corpse that was about to step into the forest.

Anali decided it was a good thing that these creatures disintegrated into bugs when they reached their limit. Otherwise, the field would have been a bloody, bloody mess. Virion, Sully, and Ruby stayed where they were instructed as Chrom, Frederick and Anali battled against the creatures in the field. If someone found themselves inured to the point of bleeding, Lissa, with Virion at her heel, was quickly at their side with her healing staff.

Bent over double, Anali used her sleeve to wipe sweat from her brow and looked down at her tome. Its pages were already running low, fast. She wanted to cry out in frustration with each creature she saw. Was there no end to them.

Perhaps, she wondered, they had a leader of sorts and alpha. If this hypothetical leader was taken out, would the subordinates follow suit? Surveying the area, Anali spotted one creature that was not like the others. Long limbs, black skin, and wild hair, no clothes. That may have been the leader she was thinking of. But whether or not the other creatures would disperse was likely a long shot.

Taking her sword in her hand, Anali ran towards the creature. Maybe, hopefully, with a running start, she could get a lucky hit in. Just enough to injure it. Three feet away from the creature, Anali drew her arm back. Then, she thrust it forward, the tip of the blade pierced through the creature's chest. She pulled out the sword, not quite sure what to expect now.

The creature wrapped its hand around its tomahawk, it stared straight at Anali. She stood her ground, her hands held onto the sword so hard her knuckles turned white. She was contemplating her next move when she noticed a flash of blue and white in her peripheral vision. Chrom sprinted right past her and faced off against the creature before it could throw its weapon. He got in a good strike, instantly, the creature started to twitch before it disappeared into haze and bugs.

Chrom slid Falchion back into his sheath and half-turned to look at Anali. "Sorry," he gestured to where the creature once stood, "was that one yours?"

Flushed, Anali held her hands up. "No, no, no, no! All yours! I-I…" She gestured to her sword and said with a weak, pitiful laugh, "I have no idea what I'm doing with this thing…"

Chrom's lips pulled back into a smirk. "Well, if you choose to join the Shepherds, we'll work on it before you ever go into battle."

"Okay." Anali nodded. "Great."

As Anali had hoped, the creatures disappeared after the leader was taken out. But not in the haze and insects. It was like the earth had swallowed the remaining creatures. In all likelihood, they weren't gone. With the disappearance of the creatures, the fires oddly subdued; the early morning was beginning to peek out over the horizon. Though the fires were gone, the damage was done.

Regrouping, Sully dismounted her horse and gave him a brief pat on the muzzle. "I'd come out to scout the area." She jerked a thumb in Virion's direction. "Ran into Fop-leroy here on the outskirts of Ylisstol. Though I lost him a while back, but alas. I wasn't expected to see you here, Captain."

"Thank the gods you did," said Chrom. "I'm not sure how we could have faired without the extra help." He turned to Virion. "You're shooting is quite impeccable."

"You flatter me, sir," Virion said, placing a gloved hand over his heart.

"We could use someone of your skill among our numbers."

"Ah, _what_?!" Sully shouted in protest. "This womanizing pervert?"

The gesture Virion had given Chrom as a sign of respect suddenly turned melodramatic. Virion's slender face paled and his hand gripped the fabric over his heart. "Your words stab, milady," Virion said through a strained voice. "Have I not proven my worth?"

"You followed me into the forest," Sully said flatly.

"Hey, he saved our hides by showing up," Lissa defended. She glanced over at Sully, adding, "And he was hovering over me the whole time, and stayed a good three feet away from me. I'd hardly call that perverted."

Chrom began speaking to Ruby, ignoring Virion's melodrama. "And I thank you for…" he paused, "coming to Sully's aid, I suppose."

Ruby shrugged a shoulder. "I don't really think she needed it, but…"

"Your right about that. You seem quite adept with a blade. We have plenty of room in the Shepherds."

The blonde's brow rose. "Really?" She folded her arms behind her head and started to kick at the ground with one leg. "I hear the Shepherds are well-paid."

"Yes. Yes, they are."

"Do I have to sign a document?"

Both Virion and Ruby took Chrom up on his offer. Sully led the two back to Ylisstol ahead of them to report what happened that morning. Sully was not entirely thrilled about spending more time with Virion, but did not argue and took it as stoically as possible.

Shortly after the trio had left, Frederick was at Chrom's side with the masked boy at his side. Anali studied him, his clothes were fine, he was slender; his jaw was delicate and clear. In short, he was effeminate, there was simply no other way to describe it. Anali was willing to believe he was simply a young woman masquerading as a boy if he was not sickly.

"It seems nearly all the creatures were vanquished," Fredrick informed. He gestured to the blue-haired boy. "This young man took care several others before they could get too far, but we have lost sight of some of them."

"I never got to thank you for before," Lissa said, taking a step towards the boy. She kept her hands behind her back and carried a bright smile on her face. "So… thank you. You were very brave."

"My name is Chrom," her brother introduced, "might I ask yours?"

The boy was silent for a moment before he answered, "You may call me Marth."

Anali could tell the name meant something to Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick, judging by the looks on their faces. The siblings actually dropped their mouths open slightly, while Frederick's brow shot up. The name, however, did not mean anything to Anali, not the way it did to these three. But she did feel like she may have heard it from somewhere, though where she had no idea. "After the heroic king of old?" Chrom asked the boy, breaking the silence.

Okay then, so Marth was an old legend or story. That might explain where Anali could have heard the name. Chrom continued with a smile, "Well, you certainly fight like a hero. Where did you learn your way with a sword?"

"I'm not here to talk about me," Marth said briskly. "This world is teetering on the brink of calamity. What you saw here tonight was just the prelude."

"What?" questioned Anali. "You're going to have to elaborate further on that."

Marth shook his head. "I've already said enough for now." Turning around on his heel, he walked off a few meters before he peered over his shoulder. With the mask on his face, he looked very calm and natural. "You have been warned."

The young man continued on his way, ignoring the burnt up grass at his feet, and the rising clouds of smoke. He disappeared into the forest off to parts unknown. When Marth had fully disappeared, well out of earshot, Lissa spoke up, "Chrom, what did he mean by that?"

"I couldn't tell you, Lissa," replied Chrom. "But it sounds like we'll learn soon enough."

"The guy's really not one for conversation is he?" Anali asked, rubbing the back of her neck. What the heck even was that? If Marth wanted to be helpful he wouldn't have been vague as all hell.

"No," Frederick agreed, "it would appear his skills lay elsewhere. But, I wager we'll hear his name again. I, however, am more concerned about the capital. We should make haste."

* * *

 **Authors Note:** I had to rewrite the dream sequence several times before I got it right. In large part it was influenced from Future Past Part 2, and Odin's support chain with Azura in Fire Emblem Fates. It definitely helped solidify my headcanon that _some_ aspects of the Future Past DLC happened before the children traveled back.

It is very important to me that Anali doesn't know how to use a sword. I didn't want to make her some uber badass from the start, so I settled on her starting off skilled with magic.

You can find me at my writing blog on tumblr at **tovaofwhiterose**


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three  
Ylisstol**

The day had kicked off by the time they arrived in Ylisstol. A bright, beautiful city with people bustling around, giving out polite morning greetings and similar small talk. Though she wanted to take in the sights, Anali found herself hiding in the collar of or bolero again. To her, people were staring with judgmental eyes. The foreigner, the other.

"It would appear the capital was spare of the chaos we endured," observed Frederick. After they entered the city he had dismounted Cecil and was currently leading her by the reigns. "The quakes must have been limited to the forest. Thank the gods."

"Well, that's a relief!" Lissa said, clapping her hands together once.

"Is that even possible, though?" asked Ruby. "We weren't that far from the city."

Sully shrugged. "Hey, it means fewer deaths, less of a mess to clean up, and less chance of economic problems. I'll take it."

The townsfolk suddenly began pushing against each other; on either side of the street, the people gathered as a blonde woman upon a white horse rode down. She was dressed in green and gold robes. A golden halo was attached to the back of her head through her hair; Anali could not imagine it was that comfortable. Her hair hung over her shoulders in ringlets.

Four knights on pegasus-back kept the woman boxed in. Only one of them was without a helmet; her powder blue hair was pulled neatly back into a halo-braid, out of her eyes. Anali wondered why she didn't wear her helmet with her fellows. "Is that the Exalt?" Anali asked, gesturing to the blonde woman as she rode by.

"Yes," Frederick replied, his back straight and head held high as though he were being observed. "Her name is Lady Emmeryn."

"And she's your ruler, yes? Is it really safe for her to be out in public like this with your bandit problems?"

"The Exalt is a symbol of peace." Frederick's tone made Anali think of a teacher or even a preacher. "Ylisse's most prized quality. Long ago, at the dawn of our age, the Fell Dragon tried to destroy the world. But the first Exalt, Orev Ylisse, joined forces with the Divine Dragon and laid the beast low. Exalt Emmeryn reminds us of the peace we fought for."

"And with Plegia at our borders, the people need her," Chrom added, "she's a calming presence when other's might call for war."

Anali understood what they were trying to say, but it sounded like Lady Emmeryn was more of a figurehead or mouthpiece than a Queen. After seeing the brigand attack, it seemed little wonder that there would be those who would want to go to war with Plegia. And with the threat, Marth warned of just hours ago, times were about to get darker. She sincerely hoped Lady Emmeryn knew when action was needed.

Still, there was something to be said about holding onto your morals like that. But was that an attribute a political leader should have? Anali wouldn't put it past several people to believe Emmeryn wouldn't take action even when it soon became clear that there was no other choice. Anali wasn't brave enough to make her opinion known. "She sounds… impressive. The people of Ylisse are very blessed to have her."

Lissa nodded in agreement. "Uh-huh! She's also the best big sister anyone could ask for!"

"Yes," Anali agreed with a smile, "I suppose - Wait, what?" Her expression dropped. She replayed Lissa's words several times over, the words 'big sister' bounced around in her head. The implications of Lissa's words made Anali rethink everything within the last forty-eight hours. Her breath caught in her throat, Anali looked from Chrom and Lissa to Lady Emmeryn's retreating figure, then back to the siblings. "Sh-She's your…? B-But wouldn't that make you and Chrom…?"

She could hear Sully let out a snort she tried to hide behind her hand. The expression the cavalier wore clearly left her asking if Anali was for real. "The prince and princess of the realm, yes," Frederick said with an amused smile. "You remember Chrom's name, but not this?"

It was Frederick's last statement that leads Anali to believe he just found the absurdity of the situation. Was her memory loss that inconsistent?

"You said you were shepherds!" Anali snapped. Over Sully and Ruby's chuckling, Anali clapped her hands over her mouth. She cursed herself for raising her voice so. To Virion's credit, if he found amusement in her situation, he kept himself completely under control.

"In a manner of speaking, yes," Chrom kept his eyes off Anali as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We just tend to a lot of sheep."

Anali kept her hands over her mouth, her mind replayed the last day or so, a few things had started to come together. With the way Frederick behaved around Chrom, she presumed that they were the children of a duke or at least someone of old money. But a prince and princess?! When Anali thought about it, there were a lot of things between waking up and at this very moment that should have tipped her off. How in Naga's name did Anali not see it sooner?!

"Chrom!" Anali slapped her hands over her mouth again, silently cursing herself for her lack of control. Why couldn't she get a grip? "Prince Chrom, sire! P-Please, forgive my ignorance. I-I've been so… so… I-I-I…" Defeated, Anali buried her face in her hands. Her cheeks felt warm against her palms, any warmer and her skin just might burn away. She squeezed her eyes shut, as though that would put distance between herself and Chrom. "Please just cut me down now…"

She could hear a harmony of feminine chuckles added with Virion's tenor. Why was Virion getting in on it? He wasn't exactly a local either, how did he know before she? And what about Ruby? She made it sound like she lived a nomadic lifestyle Why was she the only one out of the loop?

Chrom clapped her on the shoulder, which took Anali by surprised. Just enough to make Anali open her eyes, lower her hands and look up at him. Like the others, Chrom appeared to have had himself a good chuckle at Anali's expense. But she could see in his face that he was trying to keep himself under control for the sake of her own pride.

"Just Chrom is fine." He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I've never been overly fond of formalities." He looked back towards the street; the people were beginning to scatter, going back to their usual business. Lady Emmeryn was nowhere to be found. "Looks like Emm's returned to the palace. Would you like to meet her?"

"U-Um…"

"Oh, yeah!" Lissa placed her hands on Anali's back and started pushing her down the road. "Wait till you meet her yourself!"

Anali did not say anything, not out loud at least. But her heart was rattling her bones, and everything inside her was screaming, _'NO, NO, NO, NO, NONONONONONO NOOOOO!'_

* * *

Castle Ylisstol was built roughly a thousand years ago after the destruction of Archanea, the end of House Lowell and it's unification to and the founding of House Ylisse. Anali wasn't sure if the structure was supposed to be made of pure white marble, but from the outside, the castle bore a slight blue-ish tinge. It made her unsure of what kind of stone it was made of.

Inside, after exiting the foyer, there were a bit more 'homey' colors, ivories, browns. Tapestries hung from the ceiling, in greens and gold, each bore the same mark Chrom wore on his shoulder. As soon as she set foot inside, as soon as she heard the 'milord's' and 'milady's' directed at Chrom and Lissa, Anali just wanted to turn and run.

Once again, she could feel as though the eyes of the guards, the servants, everyone were on her. The foreigner, the other, the Plegian. Habitually, Anali started fiddling with her hair, realizing with cold blood that it was matted, again. She could feel ash on the tendrils, the color no longer quite as pure. She desperately tried to make herself look somewhat presentable by running her hands through her hair a few times. The knots, she quickly learned, were not something her fingers to smooth out. She released a small dry sob when she realized this.

Unknown to her, Chrom came to a stop, allowing the group to head off without him. Approaching Anali, he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "Anali, relax. I promise you, we're not uppity people."

"You're… not," Anali agreed. "Fine, but what of everyone else? Would they be okay with working alongside some homeless woman the prince picked up off the wayside? A woman who is, most likely, from the very kingdom trying to instigate war?" Her eyes squeezed shut as she raked a hand through her bangs. She didn't mention how everyone looked at her, she didn't want to sound whiney. She wanted to start crying, suddenly overwhelmed but her fear of looking overly childish kept the tears in.

She heard Chrom release a breath of air through his nose, his arms crossed over his chest. "I'll be lying if I said it would be easy," he said at length. "Ylisse's relationship with Plegia and vice versa. I cannot promise much beyond House Ylisse's trust."

He paused for a moment to unlace his arms and rubbed the back of his neck. "My sister believes, if nothing else, an understanding between the two can be achieved if someone takes the first step, no matter how small."

"And you think we could be that first step?" Anali shook her head, unable to decide if Chrom was having delusions of grandeur or not. He made it sound so simple when there was no way it could be. "I… I do not wish to cause you any trouble…"

"You won't, Anali. I'm aware of the challenges, I'm aware that not everyone will be okay with a Plegian within our borders or within the Shepherds. I am willing to face those challenges if you ware."

"Why though?" Anali hated the whine in her voice.

"Because I believe something good can come from this. Because I believe you can find a place for us. If you cannot find family or friends, you can always have the Shepherds." He tore his gaze away from Anali. "Or with your superior should you take an apprenticeship."

Anali blinked once, twice, thrice. She hadn't actually put much thought into an apprenticeship. Though the thought of being paired up with a stranger in a master-apprentice relationship frightened her, she forced the thought out of her head. She was determined to make her decisions based off of facts, not fear. And what facts she did know did not leave her feeling optimistic about an apprenticeship. She didn't know if she had useful skills nor did she know if she was a fast learner.

What Anali _did_ know, however, was that she was skilled in magic and had a tactical eye. They were fields she had some skill in, and while Chrom was indeed asking her to join the Shepherds for her skills, she was offering her a possible future. And… maybe make things easier on her by working with faces that were familiar to her now over working with strangers she'd just meet. Though with that in mind joining the Shepherds seemed the obvious choice, Chrom was trying not to influence Anali and let the choice be hers and hers alone.

He was making such generous offers to a complete stranger who could have been lying, who could have been planning something dubious. But Chrom had nothing but faith that she had good intentions. "You are either a truly good man or a truly foolish one," murmured Anali.

Chrom responded with a chuckle. "Amazing how often those two lines cross."

Sighing, Anali hugged herself with one arm. "I suppose I am willing to face those challenges, too." She took a moment to breathe in; what she was about to say weighed heavily on her before she was about to speak them. "I would… be honored to call myself a Shepherd."

"And we would be honored to have you."

Anali tried to smile. Not even two days was the extent of her life, and her she was regardless. Rubbing elbows with Ylisse's royalty, a new member of the Shepherds, about to meet the exalt. In truth, she knew more about Chrom than she did about herself.

It was a thought that did not sit well with her.

They came to the throne room, a round room with a long, blue carpet going traveling down the center of the room from the door to the throne. The throne itself was quite simple. It was clearly modeled after any other chair that could be found in any given study, save for two factors. The back of the chair stood taller than anyone sitting down on it and the same emblem found on the tapestries and Chrom's shoulder was carved into it.

Lady Emmeryn was seated upon the throne, speaking with an elderly man in green robes when the door opened. Upon spotting her siblings she stood up, gathered her robes in her hands, and hurried to meet them half-way. Only then did Anali notice the mark, the very same worn by Chrom, upon Lady Emmeryn's brow, right in the middle of her forehead.

Two questions popped into Anali's head. Did Lissa bear the same mark somewhere? And was that how Virion knew of Chrom and Lissa's identities?

Lady Emmeryn pulled Lissa and Chrom into a tight embrace, something they both reciprocated. Though she needed to lift herself on the balls of her feet in order to reach Chrom. "Welcome home," she greeted. Her voice was just as pleasant, gentle, and delicate as her appearance. She held hands with Lissa as she gave Frederick a knowing smile. "And good day, Frederick. I hope they weren't too much trouble."

"No more than usual, Your Grace," Frederick said with a brisk nod.

"And how fared you all?"

"We…" Chrom avoided direct eye contact with his sister. "We shouldn't have any problems with bandits for a while."

Lady Emmeryn's lips pursed briefly. She clearly wanted to say more, but she let the matter slide. "That's wonderful. And our people?"

"As safe as can be, Emm. We still need to watch our borders. At least two sets of brigands crossed over from Plegia in… about two days."

"Forgive me, milord," the powder blue-haired woman said, bowing her head briefly, "my Pegasus Knights should have intercepted them."

Chrom held a hand up. "No, Phila. Your duty was here with Emm."

The old man at Lady Emmeryn's opposite side cleared his throat. He wore a small pair of round spectacles that he removed to clean one of the lenses with the skirts of his robe. "Regardless, it sound's like we will need to keep a closer eye on our borders. Two cases in two days is not something to ignore easily. I shall alert the people as soon as possible."

"Take no more precautions than necessary, Traino," said Chrom, "we want to keep the people at ease for as long as possible."

 _'Besides,'_ he added silently, _'we might have more pressing matters at hand.'_

"Besides," Lissa spoke up, her voice laced with glee, "we had plenty of help?"

Emmeryn's face lit up, her blue eyes traveled to the trio of unfamiliar faces. "Ah, you speak of your new companions, here?"

Out of the corner of her eyes, Anali could see Ruby awkwardly rub the back of her head, knocking her tawny bandana askew. Behind her, Anali heard Virion release a brief chuckle. He held his chin in one hand, while the opposite held his elbow in the palm. Anali, in contrast, tried to hide in her robes. She was just beginning to feel comfortable around her rescuers, why did she have to feel so shy now?

"Pleased to meet you, Your Grace," Ruby gave the Exalt a salute, "name's Ruby. I'll try and keep my sticky fingers to myself."

Frederick's eyes narrowed, unimpressed by Ruby's lighthearted jape.

Lady Emmeryn stared at Virion, her thumb and forefinger held onto her chin, her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Virion. "You… look familiar," she said. "Have we perchance met?"

"I do not believe so Your Grace," Virion said, turning on the suave. "I'd remember meeting someone of your caliber and beauty."

Chrom had to bite back a snort as soon as Phila's eyes narrowed into a wicked glare. Her exact relationship with Emmeryn was supposed to be something of a secret. But Emmeryn was an open book to her siblings. So the only secret was that it wasn't a secret to the prince and princess. Everyone else, though, Chrom wasn't sure, he never asked in case they were better at hiding it than he initially thought.

He placed an arm around Anali, ushering her up beside him. "And this is Anali," he said, "she fought with us against the brigands yesterday. She's just barely agreed to become our newest Shepherd."

Emmeryn smiled. "Well, then I hope you can find your place amongst the Shepherds."

Anali's face felt hot to the touch. Without thinking, she moved a lock of hair behind her ear, absently thinking about tying it back as soon as she got the chance.

"Forgive me, Your Grace, but I must speak up," Frederick announced. As soon as he opened his mouth, Anali's head sunk into her stomach. "Anali claims to have lost her memory, but it is only that; a claim We found her wearing the Plegian garb as you see before you. If that were the only issue, I may not be speaking now, but it's not."

"Frederick!" Chrom hissed.

"She bears the sigil of Grima on the back of her hand."

"Wh-What?!" gasped Traino. His head jolted back with such a force his glasses were knocked askew.

Sully spoke at the same time as Traino. "Wait, what?!"

"Milord!" Phila gasped. She stood part-way between Emmeryn and Anali. "What on earth could have possessed you to-"

"Peace, Phila," Emmeryn said calmly. Placing a hand on Phila's shoulder, she gently ushered her out of her path. The exalt was eerily calm, which lead Anali to worry. "Chrom, did you ever plan on telling me about this?"

"I…" Chrom struggled to find his words, "I thought we could discuss this privately."

"In other words, avoid the matter altogether," quipped Traino. Chrom grimace was instantaneous. The Hierarch was practically family and pegged him down perfectly.

"Wait, Emm!" Lissa stood between Emmeryn and Anali. "We both know how this looks, even Anali does. But she's had plenty of opportunities to do something if she was a Plegian spy. And we all know for a fact that Frederick would have been the first person to see and do something if Anali really was up to something."

"With all due respect, milady," said Phila. Her eyes traveled between the young princess and Anali. "With the precautions we've had to take at our borders this year alone, Plegia would have to be crafty by default."

"And, if I may," Traino shot a glare at Anali, "this amnesia ploy could easily be an act to gain the sympathy of Ylisse's goodhearted prince and princess. If word got out that a Plegia is amongst us, the people would surely-"

"Please," Anali spoke up. She brushed Chrom's arm off her shoulder and lead Lissa way from her. "Your Grace, the last thing I want to do is cause problems. I will gladly leave now if I truly must."

"No, Anali," said Chrom. He placed both hands around her shoulders and forced her to look up at him. "We can work our way around this. This is just-"

Emmeryn held her hand up once more, silencing her brother. "If your claims are true," she said to Anali, her voice was firm and calm, "and you really have lost your memory, would you truly be okay with leaving? I can place you in our apprenticeship program, but there are bound to be masters who aren't too keen on taking in a Plegian. You could very well be forced to live out on the streets. Are you okay with that?"

Gritting her teeth, Anali held her hands in front of her, one over the other so her left hand covered her right. "I cannot really say that I'd be okay with it," she stressed. "But… But your brother and sister have been kind to me. I do not want to cause them an more trouble than necessary."

"You're not trouble, Anali," insisted Chrom. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders again. "Emm, I've been trying to live by your example and I believe Anali is a welcomed aspect to the Shepherds, regardless of where she comes from. We cannot hold her responsible for being Plegian anymore than we can hold the sky responsible for being blue. Especially given her circumstances."

Emmeryn remained quiet, allowing Chrom to make his piece; her eyes remained on her brother and Anali all the while. Once Chrom had finished, her eyes fell upon Anali, who was still trying to hide in her clothes. "May I see it?" Emmeryn asked her.

Swallowing, Anali slowly removed her left hand. She held her right hand out to the exalt, showing the mark, the light purple lines, the eyes, to the rest of the world. "Gods damn…" Sully barely whispered.

Phila tried to remain calm and collective as she should have, but her flaring nostrils deceived her. In a matter of seconds, Traino aged by another twenty years. Anali was barely aware of the fact that Lissa kept one hand balled over her mouth, or that Frederick's gaze bounced between Emmeryn and Anali.

Silently, Emmeryn carefully took Anali's hand into both of her own. She dipped herself slightly to get a good look at the mark. She remained still as a statue in her observation. There was something strangely ethereal about the ark, but it's meaning was completely lost on Anali's part. There was a lot going against her for her origin, and the mark may as well have been the final nail on the coffin.

After a pregnant pause, Emmeryn released Anali's hand and straightened her back. "I cannot say that I've heard of Plegians, or even those of the Grimleal, bearing such a mark on their bodies. So, I would not have an inkling of who you could have been before, given that your claims are true." Closing her eyes, Emmeryn took in a deep breath. When she reopened her eyes she held her gaze straight upon her younger brother. "Chrom, you know all of this, yet you allowed her into the palace. Does this woman have your trust?"

"Yes," Chrom said without hesitation, "Anali risked her life to save our people, and may have saved mine. Or at the very least, she prevented serious injury. That's good enough for me."

Emmeyn's eyes fell back upon Anali once more, and the woman flushed once again. "Well, then Anali," the Exalt began calmly. Slowly, she smiled warmly at the young woman. "It seems you have earned Chrom's faith and as such, you shall have mine as well."

"Thank you, milady," murmured Anali.

The Exalt's gaze glanced up at Frederick. "And thank you for your prudence, Frederick. Chrom and Lissa are blessed to have so tireless a guardian. I do hope they remember to mention it from time to time."

"They… occasionally express _something_ akin to gratitude, Your Grace," sighed Frederick. He glanced over at Phila. "I also regret to inform that something… odd happened on our return to Ylisstol. I assume the council meeting is still scheduled for today?"

"Yes, of course," said Emmeryn. "Chrom, I was hoping you could join us."

Nodding, Chrom released a brief, 'Mm.' Immediately, if not somewhat playfully, Lissa tossed an exasperated look towards the trio of new Shepherds. "That's our cue, folks. Follow me, I'll give you guys a tour, we can meet the rest of the Shepherds."

Ruby's balled hands gathered in front of her mouth. "I heard the Shepherds garrison doubles as their housing."

"Yep."

The thief squealed, "I haven't slept in a bed for days!"

The blondes took off ahead of the group by several paces. Anali was half-tempted to follow suit, but neither Sully nor Virion had done the same. A sudden hand on her shoulder caused her to jump. She glanced over her shoulder to find Sully wearing a slight glare. "I'm gonna tell you this once," said Sully. Her voice was low, and each word stabbed into Anali like a dagger. She squeezed Anali's shoulder before she continued, "If you do anything to betray the trust of Chrom, Lissa, or Lady Emmeryn, you can bet your ass that you will meet the end of my lance. Understood?"

Anali was certain her eyes had gone wide. She nodded, trying not to come across as over-eager, but still trying to get the point across. She was also quite aware that it likely wouldn't matter to Sully if she said yes or not. Just like Frederick.

However, Sully left Anali stunned when she removed her hand from her shoulder and gave it a clap. "Glad we got that out of the way," Sully said, her tone lacking any of the threat it carried previously.

* * *

As far as Chrom was concerned, the hardest part was over. It was not that he doubted Emmeryn would accept Anali, but she did often think with the peoples best interest at the forefront of her mind. That was for the best. His words about both sides needing just one person to bridge the gap, they were more Emmeryn's than his own. If Chrom were in her shoes they would have marched into Plegia's capitol ad deposed of King Gangrel by now.

But, that was the kind of thing Exalt Calhoun would have done. Which was the very thing that lead Ylisse into the situation it's in today. That was why Ylisse needed Emmeryn, Chrom would do his duty by keeping the people safe in her steed. He and the Shepherds would fight back against the bandits Gangrel no doubt encouraged into Ylissean territory. That was what Chrom decided several years ago.

When the five of them, Chrom, Emmeryn, Traino, Frederick, and Phila arrived in the council room, the seven dukes and duchesses of Ylisse's seven duchies were already seated at the large, round table. The same faces of men and women Chrom essentially grew up seeing. He started attending council meetings when he was fifteen. In that time, the councilmen had only two changes.

Upon taking his seat beside Emmeryn, Chrom was showered with various greetings from the council. The 'how are you, milord,' and 'have your Shepherds been doing well,' and 'how fare your scouting this time around,' and 'did Princess Lissa drive you crazy yet?'

Emmeryn calmly requested the council hold off their questions until Chrom and Frederick completed their report. Chrom recounted the past few days events to the councilmen. The events at Elrond and Southtown. "Enough is enough, already!" Escalus slammed his hands onto the table as he stood up.

Duke of Duir, an old, childhood friend of Calhoun, with a son the same age as Emmeryn. Chrom had no affection for Escalus, for being one of Calhoun's biggest supporters. For being Emmeryn's biggest obstacle, trying to start problems amongst the council, belittling Emmeryn's accomplishments. Chrom had some memory of Escalus insisting on becoming regent after his parent's deaths until Emmeryn was a little older. If that came to past Chrom did not doubt that Ylisse would be in a worse state than it was when the war ended.

His only son, Tybalt, was one Chrom would have loved to have amongst the Shepherds. There were very few in Ylisse who flew on griffon's and would have been a welcomed asset. But for whatever reason, Escalus refused it. Never mind that Tybalt was well into his adult years. For whatever reason, Escalus had his son directly under his thumb. Chrom suspected there was something going on behind closed doors.

"Attack rates this year are at its highest," ranted Escalus. "Attack rates are at it's highest, and it's only March! They'll burn us all to the ground at this rate! I say we finish what we started fifteen years ago and be done with it!"

"That's is enough, Escalus! I will not tolerate such talk, as you should know by now. We will hear all Chrom has to say and then have a discussion." Emmeryn's voice was commanding, though she did not actually raise it. She so rarely lost her temper, though Chrom had been on the receiving end of such a rarity once in his life. "Chrom, if you please…"

"Of course," Chrom said with a brief nod.

He continued his story, explaining what happened in Elrond, tiptoeing around the caravan as to not delve the counsel into a shouting match. The story went from the events of Elrond to finding Anali and the ensuing battle in Southtown and made it clear that Anali aided them when she didn't need to. "So, you needed a little help from a wayward lass, milord?" Shalom asked playfully.

Currently, the oldest living member of the council, Escalus of Alder still looked haunted by his month in prison over a year ago. Framed for hiring a common thief to rob from Ylisse's royal treasury. Shalom was almost put to death for it were it not for the anonymous letter implying Shalom was set up by one of the councilmen, but it never said who. Chrom would be Falchion itself that it was Escalus, but no one confessed, and he had no proof.

"Not exactly. Not yet, anyway." Chrom's face lit up a little when Shalom spoke of Anali. No, she wasn't about to challenge the Valmese Emperor, but she was still something else. Her tactical incite, her skill with magic, and just the way she was able to carry herself in spite of her circumstances. "She's in need of a bit of training, but she should thrive amongst the Shepherds. Actually, we have two other new recruits.

"Always wonderful to hear in such trying times," said Sosie. Chrom knew Rowan's current duchess as a kind woman. She had three sons, the eldest being around sixteen. "My youngest is counting the days until he can join the Shepherds himself."

"We'll be happy to have him as soon as he's fifteen." Fifteen was the youngest they would accept for the Shepherds. Since the Shepherds were first established, the had only been one acceptation to the rule, Emery of Carlisle's son, Ricken. He was one year off, but between his noble status and gift for magic, they made the acceptation. In theory anyway. Ricken had yet to see proper battle outside of training.

"Milord," Frederick cleared his throat. "I'm afraid we have more pressing matters at hand."

Traino, with his arms, crossed over his chest, and a very solemn expression on his face nodded grimly. With two Plegian attacks within the same day… Milady, I know you don't want it to come to that, but I think we should start preparing our armies for the worst."

Emmeryn's eyes were cast downward, locked on her hands in her lap. Her expression was calm, but Chrom knew this was one of, if not the last, thing she wanted to hear. Ylisse was still recovering from the last time they went to war. Could their people really suffer through another one?

And that was ignoring the other threat that was bound to plague Ylisse at the moment.

"Sister…" Chrom spoke after a pregnant pause, "there is something else we have to worry about. You are aware of the quake last night?"

Lady Reeli took in a shaky breath as Chrom recounted the morning's events. He did, however, leave out Marth's warning. Perhaps it was a choice that would come back to bite him in the ares later, but he was he supposed to explain it? Chrom himself barely knew how to process this information. A young man in a mask arrived out of some ethereal portal with a warning of destruction? And he was carrying the name of the famed Hero-King, no less. The council would no doubt have questions that Chrom couldn't answer.

Frederick said nothing when Chrom omitted Marth from the story. He likely realized why the prince left out the swordsman. Instead, Chrom would tell Emmeryn and Phila about Marth in private, the Exalt had every right to know of the man who saved their little sister.

At first, the council would not believe him about the creatures. By in time, they would, when the creatures were seen by more and more villagers. At most, they would assume they were bandits. But the travelers would get better looks at them. There would come a point where they could not remain in denial, these creatures will eventually become common knowledge, for better or worse.

Though they were still in recovery, the Ylisseans were strong. Emmeryn would always say such. They would retaliate against such creatures in one form or another. The Shepherds would stand for Ylisse.

"This is all very troubling, no doubt," said Lady Ainsley, "even if we can counter attack the people will be scared out of their wits. You say these creatures are like the dead given life?"

"Well, Lissa put it like that, not me," said Chrom.

"I agree," said Emery, "if things are getting as bad as the prince says, who knows what it will do to the people moral. If need be, would they even bother fighting back?"

"If it's moral we need," Ainsley said with a haughty laugh, "then why not see our dear prince marry? That will certainly give the people the hope they need. And my Sumia just so happens to be of marrying age."

Keeping his arms folded was all Chrom could do to prevent himself from burying his face in his hands. He had nothing against Sumia personally, from what he could see, she was a lovely girl. But if Lady Ainsley did not look for every single opportunity to push Chrom to be with her… Gods, he could only imagine what poor Sumia had to put up with.

There was a point in their childhoods when Chrom and Emmeryn were both betrothed to a child from one of the councilmen. Chrom with Sumia and Emmeryn with Tybalt. Calhoun had died before he could find a match for Lissa. But once Emmeryn took the throne one of the first things she did was abolish their engagements. The argument Emmeryn made was that Calhoun married their mother of his own choosing and that she was a stable hand when they met. Why should his children not get the same privilege?

Suffice to say, neither Ainsley nor Escalus were happy with it. Ainsley went as far as to demand Traino do something about it, without realizing that he was only Ylisse's Hierarch and Emmeryn's adviser. He was not the Exalt himself. Chrom thought Escalus had, begrudgingly, let it go, but Ainsley… If there wasn't a meeting where she wasn't trying to push Chrom into forming a sort of relationship with Sumia.

Shalom's face perked up slightly. "Well, what luck, my Maribelle just became of marrying age." A brief chuckle escaped his lips. "But I'm afraid I couldn't let her go just yet."

When Lady Reeli started to playfully bemoan the fact that her daughter was just learning to walk, Chrom was fighting the urge to sink into his chair. It did strike him as unfair that they weren't teasing Emmeryn like this. She had never shown any interest in romance, let alone marriage, preferring to put the needs of her people first. And yet the counsel never teased her.

"Please, let's try to get back on track," Emmeryn said, trying, and failing, to hide her smile. "I'm not sure how much more our prince can take. I'm sure Chrom will find himself a beautiful girl to wed in his own time. Us talking about it will not make it happen any faster."

As grateful as he was for Emmeryn's change of subject, he was a little put off by what she said. Finding a 'beautiful' girl, well for one, Chrom would rather not choose his life partner on physical appearance alone. And two, if he did he would be holding his future wife against impossible standards. No woman could ever hope to match the beauty their mother held.

* * *

The Shepherds garrison was about half a mile away from the palace. It was a circular brick building that, at first glance, did not look like much. At least, not to Anali, who could admit she did not know much about the architect. It was pretty simple, the only eye-catching part of the outer building was one of part of the wall with bricks so damaged it looked like someone was trying to dig through the wall to get it. "Ah! This place looks amazing!" Ruby exclaimed, taking off from the group to half-jog to the front door.

"Is it?" asked Anali.

Virion shrugged one shoulder lazily. "Hmm? I have seen better."

"The garrison serves as the Shepherds home base," Lissa explained. "They're housed here, trained here, eat here. They're given a weekly pay of which your free to do with what you wish. We do have rules each Shepherd is expected to follow, but we'll go over those in a bit."

Inside, Anali was expecting something arena-like, for whatever reason. But, instead, she was met with a foyer that lead to five different halls, two on either side and one that kept going straight. The walls were formed from grey brings with wooden beams every several meters.

Sully parted from the group, looking to put away her armor as Lissa lead them to the mess hall. The mess hall was big enough to fit an army, but it was only housed a handful of people at one of the tables. Each person was pretty chummy with each other, lost in several conversations. Abruptly, a girl with sunny blonde hair done in ringlets shot onto her feet as soon as she heard the door open. She was dressed in pastel pink and carried a parasol in one hand. Smiling boldly, the girl hurried over to Lissa and the two met each other halfway.

"Lissa, darling!" the girl said. With those two words alone, Anali could tell the girl had a refined speech pattern. She almost found it humorous compared to the way Lissa spoke so casually with others."

"Hey, Maribelle!" Lissa tossed her arms around the other blonde.

"Hey, yourself!" snapped Maribelle. "I've developed premature grey hair, every hour, on the hour, fretting over you since I heard about the quake, and all you can say is 'hey?!'"

"What?" Lissa asked innocently with a teasing smile. "We weren't gone for that long, and it's not like I can't handle a battle or two. Though I could've gone without the rabbit and squirrel meal."

Maribelle heaved a heavy, exasperated sigh. "Of course, I'm not saying that darling, but can you honestly blame me?"

Lissa started to wave her hand dismissively. "Oh, it was nothing we couldn't handle. Besides we had plenty of help." The Cleric gestured each person as she listed off, "Meet our newest Shepherds, Virion, Ruby, and Anali."

Instantaneously, a young woman with long ash brown hair stood up. She was wearing a breezy, casual, lilac dress, something easy to move in. She wore a sunny smile on her face, eager to make a good impression. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, "my name is-"

She ended up cutting herself off. In her attempt to step away from her seat, her foot clipped onto the bench, or maybe her skirt got caught. She fell face-first onto the floor; the bench nearly toppled over with her had the boy she was seated beside not grabbed onto the table. Anali gasped, "Are you okay?!" and bolted towards the girl.

"Y-yes!" the young woman said, pulling herself up with a weak smile. Slowly, she stood up and dusted off her skirt. "I'm eh… just breaking in a new pair of boots is all."

There were more than a few grumbles from the group at the table. The young woman was not actually wearing boots, but kept it to herself, if only for the lady's dignity. Composing herself, the woman held her hand out to Anali. Neither of them noticed the blond man with a muscular physic canning his head around. "As I was saying," the woman said as though the fall never happened, "it's a pleasure to meet you. Anali, right? I'm Sumia."

Anali put on the best smile she could, took Sumia's hand into her own, and shook. First impression, Sumia seemed like a kind, gentle person. She had something of a calming aura around her, and she had a face as fresh as rain.

"What the hell?!"

The three newcomers all jumped as a muscular blond man with an olive skin tone stood up. He marched up to Sumia and Anali, Lissa took a step forward, "Vaike!"

But Vaike had pried Anali's hand out of Sumia's by the wrist. The right wrist. He jammed the back of Anali's hand into Lissa's face, forcing the girl in question alongside with him. Some of the various people at the table craned to the side, trying to get a look at what the fuss was about. Save for a woman with red hair who kept her nose buried deep in her book. "What the actual fuck?!" snapped Vaike. "You're telling me we've gotten so fucking desperate that we need help from one of them?!"

Anali could hear a small gasp from Sumia, follow suit by the rustling of hair. "Vaike, you're not being fair!"

Instantaneously, Vaike whirled around on Sumia. "Not. Fair?!" Venom dripped from his voice; his face had flushed. "You've seen the damage they've done before, what they're still doing now. And all you can say that calling her out is 'not fair?!'"

"Hey, buddy, c'mon." A young man with shaggy olive green hair stood up from his seat. He was at Vaike and Anali's side, trying to ease Vaike to release her hand. "You can't blame one person for something that happened over ten years ago."

He successfully freed Anali's wrist from Vaike's grip. The man took Anali's hand into his own and pulled back her sleeve with his other hand. It wasn't until he turned her arm so it was palm-up did Anali realize he was checking for injury.

Vaike scoffed. "Her. Her father, her kinsmen, they all deserve the blame."

"Vaike!" snapped Lissa. "Anali has a tactical eye, and I agree with Chrom when he says we could use someone of Anali's talents."

"Wait, wait, what?!" Vaike looked like someone had just slapped him across the face. "Letting her in was Chrom's idea?"

"Of course it was," said the red-haired woman at the table. "He's the one who leads the Shepherds, you ignoramus. His say outweighs yours."

The youngest member of the table, a boy about fourteen piped, "That's right! You wouldn't question Chrom's judgment, would you, Vaike?"

"Normally, I wouldn't," Vaike admitted, "but we're talking about an obvious Grimleal fanatic."

"Vaike," Lissa kept a glare on the bond, "I'll have you know, Anali helped us save Southtown from Plegians just yesterday. As well as helped us through all the chaos this morning."

Without missing a beat, Vaike opened his mouth to argue. He was quickly cut off by Lissa holding up a finger to silence him. "Up-pup! Save it. Frederick gave us this speech already. I can assure you, if Anali had anything planned, surely she would have done it by now."

Anali's brow furrowed, her hands balled up at her side. "Can we please stop talking about me like I'm not here?" she asked, her voice raised only high enough to make herself heard. She glanced over her shoulder at Ruby and Virion. "Besides, I'm not the only new member."

"That is right," Virion said, his arms outstretched into a grandiose gestured. "My magnificence is blinding, I know. But rest assured I shall do my very best to keep us both alive."

Sumia held a hand to her lips, her brow rose as soon as Virion spoke up. "Can't you just say 'hi' and get it over with?" Ruby asked. "Is there anywhere I can get something in my stomach. I'm starving.

Virion had taken the opportunity to toss a glance as Sumia. He placed a gloved figure over his lips. She nodded briefly, a silent understanding.

Scoffing, Vaike left the room, largely unnoticed by the rest of the room. The man with olive-green hair had introduced himself to Anali as Stahl. She quickly found he was as easy to live as Sumia. He didn't appear to have much in the ways of ambition, he appeared quite content with where he was. It was probably the laid-back vibes he gave off that helped Anali relax after that previous scrutiny.

Miriel was the red-haired woman with the book. Anali finally noticed the wire-framed glasses over her eyes. Miriel gave off a scholarly air about her; she still held her book in her hand as she introduced herself to Virion, Ruby, and Anali. Unexpectedly, Miriel just up and grabbed Anali's right hand and brought the back of it close to the level of her eye. "Fascinating," she said, more to herself than to Anali. Miriel's eyes glanced down. Anali yelped as Miriel moved the flap of her coat back revealing the yellow tome at her side. "You practice magic?"

"A-ah…" Anali took several steps back, yanking to coat out of Miriel's hand. "A-A bit, yes."

"Oh, cool!" said the boy. His hair was an oxford red. Anali noticed his clothes, though casual, looked a bit finer than Stahl's or Miriel's. He must have come from money or the like. "I could give you a few pointers if you're interested. Oh! I'm Ricken, by the way."

Anali heard Stahl speaking to Ruby, something about him being hungry too and offering to make something when the introductions were over and done with. A girl, around Lissa and Maribelle's age, stepped away from Virion. Anali took a stab in the dark and guessed that he tried flirting with her. "Oh, hello," the girl greeted with a warm smile. Her hair was a shade of sandy blonde, done in a bob cut. She wore a green dress with a white apron. Thought it lacked the crinoline, Anali realized it looked an awful lot like Lissa's dress. "My name is Elaine. I'm technically not one of the Shepherds, but if you get pretty beat up during training, I'll be there to patch you up."

This bit of information, Anali was confused at first. But it wouldn't be until later that night she would learn that Elaine was indeed a Cleric, much like Lissa. She wasn't a Shepherd, but the daughter of a local Bishop. She was working as one of the Shepherds infirmary workers as first-hand experience.

Now, when it came to Maribelle, the blonde girl looked Anali over once. "Tsk. I would hope you were cut from finer cloth, darling," she said. Darling? Anali had to be older than her. Regardless, Maribelle held her white parasol out in front of her. "I do understand that the hoi polloi cannot help what class they were born into. I really do. But I would hope that you have some standards. Make a good first impression and the like."

"Maribelle!" gasped Lissa.

"I'm only laying my opinions out on the table now, darling," Maribelle said, pursing her lips. "It will make thing less awkward that way."

"Well," Anali said plainly, "in a way, I've gone through a rough couple of days." Paused to shrug. "Can't really be helped much now. Can it?"

"No, I suppose it can't," the blonde agree. "Well, first impressions are deceiving, after all. I suppose there is plenty of time to prove that there is indeed a lovely gem under all that…" Maribelle gestured to Anali's person, "well, and change my mind."

Without another word, Maribelle walked off with her head held high. Lissa glanced at Maribelle's retreating figure, to Anali, then back. She held up one hand to Anali, as though to say 'one moment please,' then ran off to catch up with Maribelle. "Ah… Don't take her words to heart, Anali," Sumia said quickly. "Maribelle just warms up to people slowly."

"Or burns them too quickly," murmured Stahl.

Slowly, Anali nodded. "I figured as much," she said quietly. "She managed to befriend Lissa, after all."

"Oh! Yes, that's right!" said Sumia.

Anali felt a bit conflicted, wondering if she really made the right choice in saying yes to Chrom's offer. It was a comfort to think that she could easily befriend a few people in this room. But Anali felt more like an outsider than anything else. It was so painfully obvious that everyone in this room had known each other for a long time, and Anali clearly wasn't much of a social butterfly.

She was the one out of place here. Anali without any memory of herself before yesterday. Anali with the foreign cloak and the foreign mark on her hand. Anali who was most likely from the country Ylisse was currently feuding with.

* * *

Sumia was the last to leave the mess hall that night, having been assigned kitchen duty for the evening. She wanted to see how Anali was settling in, as she would be bunking with her and Elaine in their room. She was hardly two feet out when she jumped in place at the sight of an older woman with the same ash brown hair as her. Though the woman's was more on the gray side compared to Sumia's.

Duchess Ainsley Rebeck only dawned her Falcon Knight garb when she traveled, having been in a similar position as her daughter in her youth. Tonight, however, she wore one of her better gowns, light fuchsia in color, with sleeves almost as long as the skirt. At first glance, it would have been easy to place Sumia and Ainsley as mother and daughter, but upon closer inspection, it was a wonder Ainsley made someone as sweet as Sumia.

The Duchess' eyes were in a constant glare like she was forever bitter at the world at large. The air about her could fill a person with dread, just the sight of the woman made you want to get into her good graces for intimidation alone.

"M-Mother," Sumia stammered, "It's a… That is to say… I thought-"

"What do you think you're doing darling?" Ainsley asked approaching her daughter. Though by Sumia's own admission, she was about the average high of a woman her age, Ainsley was a petite woman. Sumia's body language told an entirely different story.

"I don't know what you mean, Mother."

"You're letting him get away from you. Don't you want to be the person most adored by Prince Chrom."

Instantly, a rosy blush formed on Sumia's cheeks. "I-I suppose, but-"

Ainsley's lips pulled back into a sneer, an unpleasant, ugly look on her face. "Then get on it! Before that-that Plegian steals him from you!"

Sumia's brow furrowed, her mouth opened slightly. "You mean Anali?" she asked. She did not like how her mother was speaking about her, Anali seemed like a decent person despite her situation. It probably should be a cause for alarm, but Sumia simply wasn't seeing it.

Tossing her hands up, Ainsley started to circle around Sumia. "You weren't there, darling," she ranted, "the way the Prince spoke of that… thing. Clearly smitten by her already, the tramp. If the gods are merciful, Lady Emmeryn will have the right sense to put a stop to it now."

"But Anali doesn't seem that bad, Mother," Sumia said sheepishly. "A-And, besides… if you're right and it comes to that… it's it up to the Captain?"

She regretted saying anything the moment Ainsley stopped and gave Sumia a nasty glare. "Haven't we been over this, foolish girl?" Ainsley asked darkly. "You were supposed to be Prince Chrom's intended. You would be a married woman by now if not for Lady Emmeryn's youthful ignorance. You need to step up your game and show Prince Chrom that you're actually worth something." Turning on her heel, Ainsley let out a scoff. "What other men in their right mind would take you otherwise?"

It was always like this, Ainsley, obsessed with raising House Rebeck's status. As soon as she had herself a daughter, that goal was within reach. Exalt Calhoun agreed to an engagement between her daughter and his son. But then Exalt Emmeryn, barely nine abolished not only Chrom's engagement but her own. Ainsley chalked it up to youthful ignorance.

But, since then, Ainsley drilled it into Sumia's head that she had to win over the prince over the old-fashioned way. But Sumia herself never fully understood why, or why it had to be the prince. Why should she bother with someone who never seemed interested anyway? It did not seem all that fair to either of them.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** So… since starting this novelization as a whole (even when I was in the middle of working on the original version) I've found out that the reason no one mentions the Grima mark… is because it's invisible and anyone with it has to memory or knowledge of bearing it. Not even kidding, it's in the art book. Frankly, I'd be legitimately surprised if the mark was not a last minute thing, because it screams it.

As a bit of a compare and contrast to my original version, Emmeryn, Chrom, and Lissa's parents weren't even namedropped until, like… after Gangrel's death. In little edits after the initial posting their names may have come up. Likewise any hints and the like from the transition between Archanea's destruction and Ylisse's construction only started coming up around the same time. I don't know if I'll end up writing something about it.

And a fun little fact, when I original wrote the first draft of Anali meeting the Shepherds, I'd legitimately forgotten to include Kellam. However, it was so appropriate that I didn't see the need to go back and fix it.

Ainsley is an… "interesting" character. Not in that her character is particularly deep, but just how she deviated from what I intended when I first created her. She was supposed to be a character to be a sort of foil for Sumia's eventual husband. A sort of 'spouse vs. in-law' kind of thing. But then she eventually became a character who was manipulative at best, emotionally abusive at worst.

You can find me at my writing blog on tumblr at **tovaofwhiterose**


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four  
** **Breathe Again**

 _Thick clouds of ash and embers shield the waxing moon from view. Ylisstol, once a place of splendor, now steadily, steadily burned away. The same grey, sickly creatures roamed the city streets, attacking anyone they could find, killing just as many. Those who tried to flee attacked back as best they could. But not everyone was able to escape Ylisstol with their lives._

 _Castle Ylisstol still stood, just barely. The creatures had already found their way in. The soldiers fought back as best as they could, but the overwhelming numbers of the creatures made their efforts difficult._

 _One of the soldiers was slammed against the wall. Tears in their eyes as the creature breathed a black smog into their face. Abruptly, the creature paused, the soldier they had pinned down held their breath. The creature looked down to find the tip of a sword sticking out from its abdominal area. "I believe the woman you want," said the attacker, her voice low and dangerous, "is me!"_

 _In a swift movement, the girl lift her sword, slicing through the creature until it vanished into a black haze. The girl stood up straight, her back to the soldier. "We can't let these things win," she told the soldier. "Now grab a sword, and fight!"_

 _The soldier grabbed the fallen creature's axe, they mutter something to the girl before jumping back into the fray. A stray cry stole the young woman's attention, an axe suddenly came hurtling towards her. She blocked the attack with her sword, then pushed off the axe. She slid, then thrust forward, plunging the sword into the creature._

 _Before she could even admire her kill, another creature came barreling up to her. She blocked the oncoming attack successfully, she maneuvered herself around so that she could attack the creature from behind. She missed. Sliding to a stop, the girl glanced over her shoulder to find yet another creature gearing for another attack._

 _Without warning the east wall was blown to bits, debris flew into the hall as the rest of the structure was blown apart. The young woman cried out, her arms shielding her face; the building began to rumble. When the dust started to clear up, she found herself the only one standing. The walls were completely obliterated, the floor looked like it was barely holding her up._

 _"So ends the human race," said a deep, rumbling voice._

 _The young woman held her sword out in front of her in two hands. Her head looked from side to side, trying to find the source of the voice. There was a slight tremor in her grip. "The future is built upon the past," the rumbling voice continued, "but your kind shall never see it."_

 _A large, shining red eye, almost the size of the woman, stared straight at her. The eye's owner reared its head back, revealing a massive head with six eyes. "Your mother and father are dead, tiny one," the voice said with a low chuckle. The young woman's hand lowered, shaken by the voice's painful truth. "And now it is your turn… To die!"_

Anali took in a sharp breath of air as her eyes snapped open. She felt as cold as ice, despite the thick blanket she had herself cocooned in. It was a slight struggle to untangle herself an pull the blanket off. Anali sat up, finding Sumia, Ruby, and Elain sound asleep.

The room the three shared was pretty standard. A cot for each of them. Each one came with a wooden locker for personal belongings and a chest for clothing. Sumia and Elain's were pretty well lived in. And even Ruby had a few belongings with her. Anali's was the only side of the room that was barren and lonely.

That was something Anali could worry about later, however. Right now she could feel the walls beginning to close in on her. Her thoughts were running a mile a minute, she needed to get out of here. She needed to calm down.

She pushed the blanket to the side, unaware and uncaring that it fell onto the floor. Her feet were quickly met with the slight discomfort of a cool floor when Anali swung her legs around. As silently as possible, Anali tip-toed across the room, careful not to wake any of her roommates, and slipped out the door. She wondered idly if she could remember the way to the mess hall. She was pretty sure she could, if she wasn't mistaken the mess hall was just around the corner.

As quietly and slowly as possible Anali walked down the darkened halls. It did occur to her that someone may mistake her intentions for something malicious. It would have been something of a stretch, however, given that Anali wore nothing but the pink nightgown Sumia lent her and her smallclothes. If she really had something vicious in mind surely Anali would have been properly dressed. Someone had to realize that, right?

A few minutes later, Anali pulled open the door to the mess hall. Her throat felt parched, almost like she spent ages breathing in ashes on a hot day. She needed a cool drink of water, so, she fixed herself a mug of water. It felt cool and liberating against her throat as it trickled down. Was this what the earth felt like after the first rain during a dry spell?

Anali left the mess hall after she took care of the mug when she was finished. She silently left the mess hall; as soon as she rounded the corner, she came face-to-face with a slightly large man with dark hair. He wore a full suit of bulky yellow and silver armor. To Anali and her inexperience, it appeared to be quite heavy. The man had a round face and looked like he was perpetually squinting. "Oh, Anali!" the man breathed out in a slight surprise. He took a good step back for fear of making things uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you…"

She arched her brow, why was this man talking to her like he walked in on her during a bath? It was not as though she was in the middle of something like that. The question was, what was he doing out here? If his armor was anything to go by he must have been out on night watch. If anything, _she_ was interrupting _him_.

Anali shook her head, "N-No. It's fine… Kellam?"

"That's me!" he beamed. "That's me… just disappearing into the background."

Anali was about to argue, she wanted to say, 'No, I wouldn't say that.' But, really, she couldn't remember if or when Kellam was ever introduced to her. Anali knew his name, so clearly they met at some point, but she couldn't remember when.

At an utter loss for words, Anali tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. This was getting awkward. "Are you on night watch?" asked Anali. A very stupid question. Of course, Kellam was on night watch, why else would he be in the halls, alone, in full armor, in the middle of the night?

"Yeah," nodded Kellam. The pair walked alongside each other as they conversed, "The cover of night is just about perfect for bandits or Plegian's to strike while everyone's asleep. And there are also the creatures from the forest…"

Anali's brow rose, as she nodded in agreement. She supposed that they couldn't be too careful with those creatures. There was no telling what their attack patterns were, or what their goal was after all. Assuming they even had one. Hell, they didn't even know if they possessed any levels of intelligence.

"So, what about you?" Kellam asked. "I would've thought you'd be taking advantage of a soft bed after everything you've been through."

"Couldn't sleep," Anali replied instantly, it was a bit embarrassing to admit to someone that she was up because of a nightmare, no matter how vaguely she could remember it. It was pretty safe to say she wasn't five.

"Bad dreams?" asked Kellam.

She heaved a sigh. Was it that obvious? "Yeah. I don't really remember it well enough, though. Just a bit of screaming and fires."

"Nothing else?" the dark-haired man asked.

"Everything's hazy," Anali said with a weak, tired smirk, "I should be used to it by now, but…"

Kellam looked down at the floor. What an awful position for Anali to be in. For _anyone_ to be in, really. To be unable to remember anything beyond two days ago. How empty Anali must have felt. Was it lonely to wake up in the middle of the night without any comforting memories to look back on? How frustrating it must have been to have no answers to your personal questions. Kellam did not envy Anali's position. "Well, you know," Kellam said after a pregnant pause, "while you're here with us, you might as well try creating new memories."

"Huh?" questioned Anali.

"Maybe you had nightmares because you're trying to remember something. Or, because you're trying to search for something to hold onto. But maybe if you make newer, happier memories with us, it will help with the nightmares."

Anali bit the inside of her cheek. That was one way of thinking about it. Anali really wasn't quite sure if it would help with her dreams or not, but it did make for a comforting thought. "I haven't thought of it like that," admitted Anali. She gave Kellam a crooked smile. "However, I must point out that it's a 'time-will-tell' sort of thing. It's not like I can have one good day and everything will be okay as I sleep."

Kellan chuckled. "Well, Ylisstol wasn't built in one night."

"I suppose that is true," Anali paused for a moment. She glanced over both shoulders before her expression fell. "Erm… was I supposed to take a turn to get to my room?"

* * *

Anali planted the tip of her bronze sword into the ground to keep herself steady as she desperately tried to catch her breath. Her heart was beating so fast it was a wonder her entire skeleton wasn't rattling in sync. Her hands were sore, they felt like they were burning, odds were they were beginning to blister. Sweat was dripping down from her brow and formed around the nape of her neck. "I'm dying…" she whined.

"You wouldn't be if you _breathed_ ," Frederick chided. "I don't know if you're doing it intentionally or not, but I've noticed that when you go to strike you either hold your breath, or your breathing is shallow. That is an excellent way to find yourself passed out. Now, if you're truly serious about this, we can't have that happening in the middle of battle."

Frustrated, Anali rested the hilt of the sword against her forehead. As both Sully and Frederick so kindly pointed out to her earlier that morning during breakfast, Anali had a bit of magical skill, but her swordplay left much to be desired.

At the time, Anali was sitting in the mess hall, chatting with Lissa. The youngest royal had asked her how her first night in the garrison was. And then Frederick approached her, suggesting that Anali work on swordplay first thing today. "It's obvious you've no idea what to do with it," Frederick said, standing over her as she buttered her second slice of bread. "If I venture a guess, assuming you have been honest with us-"

"I _have_ ," muttered Anali.

"-you only had the sword on you in the first place hoping to scare off bandits and the like. Someone's going to need to teach you to wield it properly."

"Are you volunteering, then?" Anali asked with a perked eyebrow.

"I was simply stating-"

"Hey, that's a wonderful idea!" Lissa spoke up with great enthusiasm. The brown leather corset and her crinoline had long since been put away, leaving Lissa's headdress, yellow dress, and white apron remaining. "Who better to teach her than Chrom's second-in-command?"

"All the more reason to give the task to someone-"

"Frederick," Lissa said with an exasperated sigh and a roll of the eyes, "you already train everyone else in the Shepherds, so what's a little one-on-one?"

Which was why Frederick was teaching Anali a bit of swordplay while the others sparred off against each other. Technically they were encouraged to try a hand with different weaponry to get a feel for it should they ever need an impromptu weapon. But Frederick decided Anali needed to focus on her swordsmanship first and foremost, then the rest would follow suit.

Anali swallowed, her mouth was uncomfortably dry. She wondered how in Naga's name Frederick did it, he had to put up just as much of a fight as Anali did, if not more, yet the man hardly broke a sweat! It undoubtedly helped that he wasn't wearing his suit of armor, but a white shirt, black tie, and black slacks. It also made Anali wonder what they looked like to an outsider; the butler crossing blades with the new girl.

She was certain, however, that Frederick had yet to really let his guard down when he was around Anali. The constant 'what if' was hanging over his head, she was sure. She could have been the little Plegian spy out to get the Exalt and her family with a sympathetic amnesia ploy. Frederick's concerns were nothing short of understandable, and Anali should really expect nothing less from a man who took his job as seriously as he did. She just hated the situation. No one here actually knew Anali before she lost her memory, so there really no way to prove that she wasn't lying.

"While your form needs work and you need to work on your breathing, I do say you've got the making of a decent swordsman," said Frederick.

Anali raised an inquisitive eyebrow, she failed to see how. Everything Anali did seemed wrong to her. The way she held her sword felt uncomfortable and wrong. Her thrust seemed awkward. Her stances felt wrong. Of course, Frederick knew more about all of this than Anali did, so maybe she was just over thinking things.

On the other hand, there had to be a catch to Frederick's compliment, he did not seem like the kind of man to just hand out free compliments without a bit of constructive criticism.

During their second round, Anali found her sword hand cramping, the skin was as tender as ever. If Anali did not feel like she was holding the hilt wrong before, she definitely felt like she was now when she couldn't find a grip without her hand stinging.

Another half-hour passed before Frederick dismissed her for the day. Anali sat on the grass in the training field, trying to massage her stiff, sore hands. "Here."

Startled, she whipped around to find Stahl wearing a black shirt and grey slacks, offering her a round tin. Curious, she took it into her hand and studied it. "Salve?" she asked.

"Homemade, too."

Silently, Anali removed the lid and dabbed two fingers into the ointment, gathering a bit onto the tips. She applied the salve onto the opposite hand; it felt cool against her warm skin with a slight tingle. When she finished applying it on both hands Anali handed the tin back to Stahl, who held a hand up. "You keep it," he insisted, "my family sends me plenty."

"Oh, thank you," smiled Anali. She studied the tin again. "Did they make it for you?"

Lowering himself down beside her, Stahl nodded. "My father runs an apocathary shop," he explained, "the salves are something of a specialty of his."

"Oh. Were you ever an apprentice, then?"

"I dabbled a bit," shrugged Stahl. Thinking about it now, a few years after he left home, he was beginning to feel a slight sense of nostalgia. "Just enough to make a couple of tonics and salves. Not enough to have them contribute much, but…"

"Sounds like you and your family are kind of close though," said Anali. He looked up at her with an arched brow. Flinching, Anali's hair nearly stood up on end. "Sorry, should I not have… I-It just sounded like… I-I mean they send you healing ointments, so…"

Despite his shuttering shoulders, Stahl tried not to burst out laughing at that moment. Anali could feel her cheeks beginning to heat up. Okay her little outburst was kind of funny, but still! "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Stahl said, calming down a little. "I shouldn't have…"

Stahl knew full well that he should not have been laughing at her, Anali looked so embarrassed, her eyes narrowed, glancing down at the grass, with a pink blush on her cheeks. But it was kind of funny, in a cute way. Anali clearly wanted to say the right things, to make a good impression, but when she acted like that, she was trying too hard. It made Stahl wonder what her life before Chrom and Lissa found her was like.

Judging from her need to impressed, Stahl would venture to guess Anali didn't have much in terms of friends before all of this. Which was why he really shouldn't have been laughing at her like that.

The Shepherds learned about Anali's amnesia shortly after Vaike stormed out. Stahl, Ricken, Elaine, and Sumia were trying to get to know her, just trying to be friendly. They had asked some pretty basic things. Where she came from. What her family was like. If she had any siblings, and other innocent topics of small-talk. Anali had no answers and she tried desperately to find something; Stahl knew right then that something was wrong. And then Anali looked like she would start crying…

Lissa quickly explained what she knew to them. How they found Anali in the field, and how Anali could not remember anything from before. Whether or not everyone believed her was an entirely different story. From Stahl's perspective, there were those who believed Anali's story and those who didn't, like Frederick and Phila. And then there were those who hardly appeared to care, like Vaike and Maribelle.

Shaking her head Anali let out a very weak chuckle. "I think my experience with other people has been rather limited," she said. Anali ran her fingers through her bangs, then pushed them back out of her eyes.

"I wouldn't say that," Stahl insisted, even though he had the same thought. "I'm sure it's just… Uhm…"

"Amnesia can only justify so much, Stahl," sighed Anali, "some of my shortcomings have to be my own regardless, and this one feels like such."

"Well… Yeah, but it seemed rude to say it out loud." Anali smiled at that. "But," said Stahl, "to answer your question, yes, I'd like to think my family and I are close. My parents send me a bit of salve every so often, and my brother is always sending me a stomach tonic-"

"Oh, you've got a brother?" Anali asked, hugging her knees close to her. Her eyes sparkled with an interest that told Stahl it was okay to talk to her about this.

"Yeah, just one, though," the olive haired man said, "he took up our fathers trade. I imagine he could brew up more than I ever could by now."

"I don't know. I'm sure you could whip up something fierce."

Stahl had to laugh. "Well, my stomach tonic is known for curing tummy aches in fifteen minutes."

"So I should go to you then, if something's not agreeing with me."

"I mean, you could. But I also don't think I need that kind of pressure."

Anali smiled, beginning to feel a little at ease around Stahl. As she had observed the day before it was really easy to like him. He appeared to be a young man who already knew his own strengths and weaknesses and he was perfectly okay with it. He was a man who was comfortable in his own skin. It felt oddly refreshing to meet someone like that. "Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about it," Stahl said, almost randomly.

"Huh?" Anali's brow arched.

"Your sword work, I mean. No one who picks up a sword masters it on the first try. Give it a little time and practice, and I'm sure you'll build your skill up."

She nodded, murmuring, "Okay."

Running a hand through his hair, Stahl clicked his tongue. "So, have you made yourself at home, yet?"

Anali's face twisted as she struggled to find the right words. "Kind of," she said, "I mean my side of the room is looking pretty empty and I'm still meeting everyone in the garrison."

Did that make her sound ungrateful?

"It can be a little hard at first," Stahl admitted. "When I first became a Shepherd, I certainly felt like a small fish in a big pond."

"But did you get glares and whispers because of the foreign garb you wore?" Anali asked pulling at a blade of grass.

Stahl had to wince. Of course, there were some whispers from the soldiers about Anali since she first arrived. The coat she wore yesterday when she arrived was the tell-all sign of her Plegian origin. And then there was the Mark of Grima on her hand. It was not all that surprising that some were beginning to question Chrom and Lady Emmeryn's judgment.

The white-haired girl shook her head, mentally berating herself. "Sorry, that wasn't…" her voice trailed off, "I shouldn't have… That was a little…"

"Why not?" asked Stahl in return. He leaned back so he could look at the sky, his hands were firmly planted on the ground to keep him from toppling over. "If we're going to get this budding friendship off the ground, we need to start sharing our problems and concerns."

Stahl could see it in Anali's face that she understood, but the situation was just lousy. There was no way to really prove that she had been honest, or that her intentions were good. In the end, Anali would have to earn the trust of those who doubted her the old fashioned way…the _hard_ way.

"Anali!" Sumia called. She approached the pair in a half-jog. She managed to get out a brief yelp when she tripped just a mere few feet away from her destination.

Wide-eyed and mouth hanging open Anali pulled herself to her knees. She reached a hand out for Sumia, offering a hand up, but the young woman pulled herself onto her knees in the blink of an eye. "I'm fine!" she said all too quickly with a slight crack in her voice. Slowly, Sumia pulled herself onto her feet and took a few deep breaths in. "A-Anyway, Anali, Lissa suggested that we go out to the market in a little while. To… well, get you some clothes, effects, and help you get settled in."

Anali eyed the tunic she wore, it was a bit big on her. To the point where she needed a belt around her waist to keep the excess fabric from flapping about and exposing her bosom. It was another article borrowed from the stuff to be donated.

"When do we go?" asked Anali.

"As soon as Lissa, Maribelle and Ruby are ready," replied Sumia.

They left the garrison twenty minutes later, Sumia had asked Elaine, Miriel, and Sully if they wanted to come along. Elaine politely said no as the infirmary was a little short-handed as of late due to one of her coworker's children being sick. Miriel was quick to refuse, all while showing off her vast, impressive vocabulary. And then there was Sully, who initially responded with a _'Hell no!'_ Then added a far more friendly, "Hey, you know me. I just get what I need and go. You're better off without me making things miserable."

As the group left the garrison, Sumia let out a rueful sigh. "I know shopping isn't exactly Sully's cup of tea, she said, "but I thought she would have at least liked to be included."

"Twas an admirable thought, darling," Maribelle said. She had opened her white and pink parasol and kept it rested against her shoulder to block out the sun. "And I'm sure Sully is grateful for the offer if nothing else."

A bright smile soon played upon Sumia's lips. "Yeah! I suppose your right!"

"Of course I am, dear."

It was Maribelle's usage of 'dear' that made Anali stare at the girl. She had to be younger than Sumia; same age as Lissa if she had to guess. There was something odd about someone calling someone older than them 'dear.' Then again, Maribelle did carry herself like a noble's daughter, Sumia carried herself like… Not quite a noble's daughter, but she didn't carry herself as a commoner either.

As they came to the gate, Lissa took off running ahead of them, hollering something Anali couldn't quite make out at first. She stopped at the gate in front of a broad man with wavy pink hair. His face was scarred and he had an eye patch over his right eye. "Oh, hello Tybalt," Maribelle greeted as the other approached him. "I didn't realize you would be here. Lord Escalus readying you for dukedom?"

Tybalt scoffed. "No, I just have to fly the bastard around for him. He's not going to give up his title without a fight." His good eye scanned the small group when his gaze fell upon Anali, he pointed a finger at her. "And you must be the famous Anali, right? I'm Tybalt of House Duir."

Anali could only blink dumbly. "Tybalt's father holds the title of Duke," Sumia said in a stage whisper. "Lord Escalus would have been at the council meeting held yesterday."

Anali gasped, "Oh! Please, forgive my rudeness, Sir-"

"No, no," Tybalt cut her off. "None of that 'Sir,' or 'Lord' stuff. Do I honestly look like any of that."

He gestured to his own face, his scars weren't exactly something that could be easily missed. One went from just below his hairline to his upper lip. And that wasn't taking the obvious eye patch into account. Anali didn't answer one way or the other. "So, what are you ladies up to?" asked Tybalt.

"We're helping Anali get settled," Lissa explained, "she has so little with her, so…y'know."

"I do know," Tybalt gestured past the gate. "Don't let me keep you."

* * *

"Hey," Ruby said, elbowing Anali's arm. Her head was list to the side to better whisper into her ear, "We gotta look like quite a group, huh?"

"What'd you mean?"

"Come on, Ana!"

" _Ana_?!"

"You and me, we're not exactly well-to-do. And yet, here we are, shopping with not one, but three noble girls. We look like the opening to a bad joke; 'Three nobles, a thief, and an amnesiac walk into a bar…'"

Anali's head turned from side to side as soon as Ruby said that. Just when it seemed like she was beginning to throw caution to the wind and her shyness was getting better, she found herself retreating back into her shell. Everyone was staring again, they could just _smell_ the Plegian in her. The outsider, the obvious spy. Why on Naga's green earth was she even here? What were the royal family thinking letting her into Ylisstol?

With her head down, Anali kept close behind Sumia as they entered the market district. She kept her shoulders hunched and her hands balled close to her chest in an attempt to make herself as small as possible. Her hands were currently being covered by a pair of riding gloves Sumia found for her to borrow. While Anali appreciated the gesture, now that Anali was out in public, she hoped to find something a bit better in the market. The gloves made picking things up, and simply wearing the damn things felt awkward. She was afraid she would drop her tome or sword if she were to go into battle in these things.

Abruptly, Maribelle came to a stop and turned to look Anali over. "First thing is first, I say we find the lady some garments. Practically speaking, she's going to come across a few problems if she continues as is. And…" she gestured to Anali's person, "she simply _cannot_ pull off the 'lets-just-throw-on-whatever-is-lying-around' look. Granted, very few can, but there is a reason their original owners dismissed them."

"I mean…you're not exactly wrong," Ruby said with a slight shrug of her shoulder. She rubbed the back of her neck. "Not necessarily because it's not fashionable. But still not exactly wrong."

"All right, then!" Lissa beamed brightly. "Let's go… This way!"

The blonde princess grabbed Anali by the arm and pulled her down the road to a shop southeast in the market district. Outside the shop was a couple of displays of lovely summer day dresses. A bell tinkled overhead as the girls entered the shop; a woman knelt on the floor beside a mannequin, she was working diligently on the hem of a white and pink dress. The woman, who looked old enough to be their grandmother, looked up to find the five. Instantly, she removed the pins from her mouth and rose to her feet. "Milady," the woman greeted, "good afternoon. Wonderful to see you again. Lady Alder, Lady Rebeck, pleasure to see you both again as well. Oh, are those some new faces I see? How can we help you today?"

"Marina please," Sumia smiled with a light blush on her cheeks, "there's no need to be so formal."

"Well, with her, you don't," Maribel added curtly.

"Marina, this is Anali and this is Ruby," Lissa said while locking arms with the girls in question. While Ruby gave Marina a non-verbal greeting, Anali could feel her face beginning to heat up again. She tried to hide in the collar of her tunic, but sadly the collar was too low for the effect she wanted. "They're our newest Shepherds. However, Anali here is in need of a new wardrobe, so we were just wondering if there was anything here?"

Marina looked the young woman with white hair over once. "Anali, yes?" she asked. "Is there any preference you have?"

"Functional," said Anali. "Something that's easy to move around in. I don't want to go tripping over my own hemline."

"Yes, yes," Maribelle said, waving her hand in small circular motions. "Functions are good to have in this line of work, but you should also be presentable. If you ever go out on a march, you will be representing Ylisse's finest. We can't have you look like-like-like some… eh… what's a nicer word than 'tramp?'"

 _Gee, thanks…_ Anali thought with a dull expression.

But, she had to admit that Maribelle did have a point. She couldn't very well go to neighboring realms wearing nothing but rags.

"Now, a lady's clothes should tell the world something about themselves," Maribelle prattled on, she used several hand gestures as she spoke. "They should say 'I am a proud Ylissean, but I'm also…'" The girl in pink tapped Anali on the top of her head with the parasol. "Now, Anali, think. What should your clothes say about you?"

"'I'm not naked,'" Anali said dully in response.

Both Lissa and Ruby broke out into instantaneous laughter, Lissa's far more snorty than Ruby. But the two were bent over double, Ruby gripping her mid-section with one arm while her other hand was plastered over her mouth. Lissa was actually crying from laughter. Sumia, on the other hand, was, thankfully, making more of an effort to keep herself under control. But even then, her shoulders were visibly shaking. Maribelle's jaw dropped open slightly as she stared at Anali. Had Anali truly just said such a thing out loud like that… in public?!

"What else are clothes _supposed_ to say?" Anali asked incredulously.

"How about 'I'm an enigma?'" offered Sumia. Her face instantaneously flushed as she tried to avoid eye contact with Anali. "All things considered…it is kind of appropriate."

Anali nodded absently. She did not know much about herself, so she did not know what her clothes should 'say' about her. The concept of clothes 'saying' something about the person wearing them seemed utterly stupid. As long as she was presentable, the clothes were functional and comfortable, and Anali was not parading around naked, she was pretty okay with anything.

Why did it suddenly seem like getting clothes was much harder than Anali originally thought?

"Perhaps something dark then?" Marina suggested. She looked Anali over again. "Yes, something dark would make for a lovely contrast with your hair." Marina looked over her shoulder then called out, "Portia!"

Obediently, a young woman with auburn hair pulled back into a high ponytail was at Marina's side. "Yes, ma'am?" asked Portia.

"I want you to take Lady Anali's measurements and help her find garments fitting her criteria."

With a murmured yes, Portia gestured for Anali to follow her. She did, if not a bit hesitantly, and even then she needed a good push from Lissa. Portia measured Anali's bust, waist, and her collar. Anali knew it was necessary, but she felt so uncomfortable having someone that close to her face. When the process was done, much to Anali's relief, Portia lead her to a collection of pre-made garments in Anali's size and showed her to a changing stall in the back of the shop.

Lissa was the one providing money for everything in spite of Anali's protest. Anali insisted that the Royals had done more than enough for her already. Surely she could have waited a few weeks and save up her own weekly pay. She could have waited a few more weeks to shop for her clothes and effects. But her protest had fallen upon deaf ears. Anali did not like this, the constant taking from Chrom and Lissa with no giving on her part. It made her feel like she owed them something in return.

While Anali looked through the garments she had Sumia's input, which was a real help. Maribelle and Ruby largely did their own thing, which was browsing the pre-made garments. Anali found a tunic she liked the most and would have worked really well with as a replacement tunic for the outfit she was found in. Anali just was not comfortable wearing the original tunic. It was too loose for her comfort. Why was she even wearing it to begin with?

She found a few casual outfits for the approaching summer weather, she decided she would by seasonal clothing later. And then there was the dress Sumia really pushed for Anali to buy. Anali did like it the color, the simplicity, the color. She really liked the color.

But then she saw the price. "That is two suns too many," Anali said in a hushed tone. "What on earth would I need this for anyway?"

With her eyes rolling skyward, Sumia grit her teeth slightly. "Uh-off the top of my head…I have no idea," she admitted at length. But… _still_! Wouldn't it be nice to know you have a nice dress if you ever find yourself attending a formal occasion?" She clapped her hands twice, a girlish, giddy grin playing upon her lips. "Or, perhaps when you're faced with a whole line of suitors!"

Anali thought her face was about to melt off, it was getting so warm. Suitors?! Who said anything about suitors?! It was only her second day! She wasn't ready for this kind of girl talk! "I-I-I-Should I work on getting comfortable in my own skin before I start thinking about romance and courtship!" She held her gloved hands up in protest. "B-B-Besides. What do a need a line of _suitors_ for?! Don't most people just want one?"

"Hmm, I suppose," Sumia nodded absently. She pulled another dress off the rack. "Yeah, I guess a line of suitors is a bit much. Just one will do, given it's the right one."

Anali understood that Sumia was simply being friendly with a little girl talk as though Anali wasn't wandering around with a head as empty as a flower pot. And she really did appreciate it. But Anali could hardly tell a person what she liked or disliked, or even where she saw herself a few years down the road. Let alone where she saw herself next week. Anali needed to get to know herself first before she could even think of getting to know a potential suitor.

"How about this?" Sumia held the dress up in front of her. It was rose and dusty pink with sheer half-sleeves and a sheer trail. "I'll buy this if you buy that."

"Or you could just buy it regardless of what I buy?" Anali suggested with a weak grin.

"Aw! Where's the fun in that?"

Somehow, in the end, they bought the dresses, and the ladies left the shop each of them making some form of purchase. Anali bought enough casual clothes to last her a week, a spare for her laundry days, her own nightwear, and the dress. Anali hugged her collection of parcels close to her chest as Sumia listed off a few more things Anali would need. "Should we even bother with effects right now?" she asked Lissa.

"Of course," said Lissa, "we want Anali to be ready when Chrom asks her to march."

"Huh? But Lissa, Anali just came in yesterday."

"And my swordplay still needs work," added Anali.

"At least get a chain mail shirt if that coat is what you're wearing on a march," suggested Ruby. "I mean, it's _something_."

"We can probably save that for last," said Maribelle. "I'm sure it will be a hassle to carry it around the market. Is there anything else?"

"Erm…" Anali's brow perked up. "I could use more magic tomes. The one I had on me is beginning to run low on pages."

"Tomes?" repeated Maribelle. She used the tip of her parasol to point at a small tent a few yards away. "That looks like a Secret Seller's tent. They usually have tomes on them."

"Aw, yeah!" Ruby clapped her hands together. "Love looking through a Secret Seller's wears!"

Anali inquired, "Secret Sellers?"

"They're a family of merchants," Ruby explained as they approached the tent. "By traveling across the globe and trading amongst themselves, they have some of the rarest items in Ylisse."

Maribelle lead the way into the tent and held the flap open for Lissa and the other girls to walk in. She kept her closed parasol up against her shoulder as she looked through the wears uninterested. Until that is, she spotted a display of fans and unfolded one of them. She was greeted with pastel flowers and green leaves against a gold background. "Must be Valmese," Maribelle murmured to herself. "Looks quite expensive, actually."

"Oh, it was. I had to trade a whole case of sweet tincture to one of my sisters for this one."

A woman with dark red hair poked her head up from the cases of elixir she was stacking. Her long, red hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, and she wore very comfortable clothing, fit for travel, in earthy colors. "Anything I can help you ladies with?" asked the merchant.

"We wanted to see if you were carrying any tomes," said Sumia.

"Right over there," the merchant pointed at a large crate filled with books with spines of light green, yellow, and red. "Hot off the press."

Crouching down in front of the crate, Anali slowly ran her finger down one of the spines until she picked up a couple of yellow Thunder tomes. "Do the mages usually specialize in one element?" Anali asked, taking two tomes into her arms.

Lissa thought about it for a moment, her face twisted as she thought. "I can't say it's unheard of," she said, "but there is a bit of convenience of using Wind and Fire. You'd have to ask Miriel or Ricken, they would know more about magic than any of us here."

"Oh, this is quaint," Sumia said while beaming. She stood in front of one of the tables, littered with items from across the world.

The item Sumia was looking at was a peculiar doll that popped open from its middle. Inside there was another little doll painted slightly differently, and inside was another, and another, until there was a teeny tiny thing inside. The hollow dolls were all beautifully painted to resemble an old woman, as you opened one doll to reveal another the woman got younger and younger.

"That would be a nesting doll from Regna Ferox," the merchant explained. "Quite the conversation piece if you ask me."

"Isn't it?" Ruby said eyeing the nesting doll.

"Oh, but I don't have any space for it!" Sumia cried ruefully over Ruby's barking laughter.

"It's because of all of your books, darling," quipped Maribelle.

With pale lips pursed, Ruby picked up a sheathed dagger with blue-green gems encrusted into the hilt. She took the price tag between her fingers. "Whoa," exhaled Ruby. "I was expecting much more."

Immediately, her hand went into the money pouch at her waist. "Oh, dear," Maribelle sighed, gesturing to Anali, who was looking at a collection of books the merchant had. "And it looks like Anali hear is headed down the same path as our dear Sumia."

"What? N-no!" Anali straightened up. "I-I just like to read, is all… At-at least, I think I do. I-I mean-"

"I was just making a joke," sighed Maribelle, her tone utterly droll and bored, "you don't need to defend your actions, especially if they're harmless."

"S-sorry…" Anali said, trying to shrink once more.

Sighing through her nose, Maribelle turned towards the merchant, holding up the fan she found. "I suppose I'll be taking this, my good ma'am."

"Ooh, good choice! That'll be five moons."

"Five?!" the blonde young woman repeated. Regardless she fished out five silver coins from her purse.

"Excuse me," Anali spoke up. She carried an object, a little bigger than her palm, with several holes in it, and a mouthpiece sticking out. "Can you tell me what this is? I think I've seen it before, but the name escapes me."

The merchant held her hand out to Anali, she placed the object into merchant's waiting palm. The red-haired woman studied it for a moment. "Oh, yes, of course!" she said to herself. "It's an ocarina. It's a kind of flute." She pointed to the mouthpiece. "Obviously you put your mouth here, blow, and cover these little holes to make music."

"It looks familiar," Anali said, taking the instrument back.

"Maybe you've played, then?" suggested Sumia.

Anali removed the glove from her left hand to get a better feel for the instrument. It did feel familiar in her hand. So maybe Sumia was onto something. "I guess I'll take this, too," Anali said, placing the ocarina on top of the yellow tomes.

* * *

Night at the garrison was quite still, a few soldiers were stationed inside and outside to keep watch. By the time Chrom found a few minutes in the day to visit, he was sure most of the inhabitants were sound asleep, so this may have been pointless. But, the way he saw it, he owed it to Anali to see how her first real day there was.

By offering her a position in the Shepherds there was a very high chance that Anali would be dragged into the battles that were sure to come. But if things continued the way they had been this year, a war would surely come by the year's end. He could not really blame her if the first thing she wanted to do was find herself. While Anali did have a choice whether or not she wanted to stay or leave, what choice did she have? Really, where could a woman without any knowledge of herself really go?

The last Chrom heard of Anali, she and the other new girl, Ruby, were bunking with Sumia and Elaine. That made Chrom smile a bit. If there was anyone to make Anali feel at home, it would be Elaine and Sumia.

Now where did they sleep again? Oh, right.

He came to a door where, on the other side, Chrom could hear giggles, and… music? Yes, music that was…flute-like? Not quite but close. The tune itself was quite breezy, bubbly even, it was a tune that easily conjured the image of children frolicking in the meadow. The song ended with a deep inhale from the musician. "Wow, Anali," he heard Elaine say as she clapped her hands. "I had no idea you could play."

"Neither did I," said Anali. "I'm not even sure where I heard that song. It just sort of came to me."

"Then it'd stand to reason that you've played it plenty of times before you came here, yes?" asked Sumia. "This has to be a good sign, then!"

"Yeah, I guess…" Anali said she didn't sound convinced. And Chrom decided now was the time to make his presence known.

He opened the door. "Ladies," said Chrom. "Don't mind me, I was just wondering if - Oh, gods, I'm sorry!"

All four of them were dressed in their nightgowns. Which Chrom supposed was appropriate enough, it was night, it was a time when people generally prepared for bed. Sumia immediately squealed and hid her face behind a pillow. Chrom, on the other hand, closed the door slightly and used his opposite hand to shield his eyes. "Oh, gods," moaned Ruby. "Does no one get out at all?"

"Sorry, sorry," Chrom repeated. "I was just… That is to say… Can I speak with you, Anali?"

"Oh, sure," the white-haired woman said. He heard her shift in her cot. She opened the door, and stepped out, still wearing her dark nightgown. "Is something wrong?"

She looked different than when Chrom had last seen her, healthier, well rested. "Nothing's wrong," Chrom assured her. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Anali smiled. "I'm doing fine so far," she said. "Training this morning wasn't quite what I was expecting, but then again, I really didn't know what I was expecting."

"Yeah, Frederick can be a bit hard on new recruits," chuckled Chrom.

"But I think I can survive," said Anali. "I'm… relieved that I have some sort of direction, I suppose. If anyone else had found me-"

"It's probably best not to think about what could have been," Chrom cut her off. "Or what was. Think about the now, and I'm sure everything else will fall into place."

There was probably something better Chrom could have said to her if he wanted to be encouraging. Words, particularly when it came to heart-to-hearts like this, were never Chrom's strongest suits, that was Emmeryn's expertise. And, he was sure, the last thing Anali needed was to be reminded of her lack of memories. But what else could he say to something like that?

Anali just nodded in response. "Thank you, though," said Anali, she began to fiddle with her fingers, her gaze was locked on the floor. "I know you just said not to think about it, but I doubt I'd have this sort of security if anyone else had found me."

"You don't need to thank me Anali. It was a pleasure to help."

"Even if they were right?" Anali asked in reply. "Even if I really was planning to kill your sister, or even you?"

"Well I would hope that's not the case," laughed Chrom.

"I'm serious!" snapped Anali. "What if Frederick or Vaike are right about me?"

Vaike, of course. As far as he knew, Vaike did have a bit of an outburst when he met Anali. Chrom understood why, but it really seemed out of character for him. "But they're not," Chrom replied.

Anali let out a dry laugh, unsure of whether or not it was out of the absurdity of Chrom's words. "Let's…" Anali thought for a moment, then shook her head again. "Let's hope you can recognize danger when you see it, then."

"Well," the prince couldn't help but smirk. "In spite of popular belief amongst the Shepherds, I'm not that oblivious."

Of course, he had been wrong before.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** Ruby's nickname for Anali, Ana, is supposed to be pronounced like 'ah-na,' like the princess from Frozen. I've been pronouncing Anali as 'ah-na-lee.' I'm not even sure if that's the correct pronunciation.

My favorite story to tell about this endeavor as a whole (Embers and this rewrite) was how I had legitimately forgotten about Kellam when writing Anali's introduction to the Shepherds and didn't realize it until editing. But it ended up working out anyway, so it became a happy accident.


End file.
